Tapped Out

Direct-to-video MMA films have always been an easy target. While MMA has long since captured the mainstream, more traditional karate and kickboxing flicks have metaphorically beaten the small screen cage fighter to the ground and kicked him as he lay. TAPPED OUT shows that the subgenre is finally getting to its feet, ready to be taken seriously. Despite the film's occasionally ridiculous narrative decisions and other shortcomings, I am genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. This is a serious coming-of-age story with a martial arts theme, and I definitely recommend it.

The story: A maladjusted teenager (Cody Hackman) working off his community service at a local karate dojo embarks on a quest to confront the murderer of his parents (Krzysztof Soszynski).

There are many reasons that this movie might have failed, not limited to its curious casting and status as a KARATE KID knockoff, but it perseveres. At first glance, Cody Hackman appears to be your average prettyboy but turns out to be a real-life competitor who delivers an strong performance as a steadily-improving martial artist. His sensei is played, of all people, by old Michael Biehn, and Biehn somehow manages to be 100% convincing as an instructor. The screenplay the two of them act out is also to its film's credit: the journey of the main character is refreshingly nuanced, with significant victories and setbacks throughout that are not directly tied to the buildup of the ending. Different forces pull him in different directions in a lifelike manner, and even when the movie resorts to moments of clichéd stupidity, these are at least grounded in logic. Stupid decisions are addressed in an almost self-aware manner by the script, and traditional martial arts are not downplayed.

Like most movies marketed as MMA flicks, there is some disappointment in the false advertising of TAPPED OUT: UFC megastars Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida are prominently featured on the DVD cover, but are in the film for only ten minutes. Additionally, the ground & pound fight scenes are not about to outdo the likes of NINJA II's. With that said, the brawls are still a solid highlight of the film. Admirably foregoing slow motion and featuring decent editing, the dozen fights are at worst bearable and at best downright exciting. The choreography is far from ground-breaking – there's some intricate grappling, but that's it – yet the pace and dramatic components of the fights are admirable. I found myself actually holding my breath during some of the later matches simply because the filmmakers did such a good job of making them such close contests between characters I had invested in.

There is no guarantee that traditional fight fans will enjoy this as much as me, and even I teetered on whether to give this a lower rating simply because it wouldn't matter to me if I never saw Cody Hackman in a martial arts movie again. While it may not have rewatch value, this action-drama is worth at least a single viewing and will probably do the trick for general martial arts devotees and MMA nuts alike. Rent it!

Some things are never explained and not every character motivation has to be explained I reckon (whether it's a villain or our main hero doing stuff). The "story" itself is pretty straightforward though and it doesn't take a lot of guessing to know where this is heading and what will happen in the course of it.

Michael Biehn somehow got involved in it and he does a decent job being guardian. Even when he doesn't seem consistent in what he's saying and what he's doing, he still pulls it off. But more important for anyone watching is, if the action is good. I would say it's OK/decent enough. It's not over the top or anything great, but it serves its purpose and will entertain enough if you're willing to oversee the flaws ...

This is my 1st review on IMDb and the reason is to save you two hours! Believe me if you do watch it you can only agree with this review.

Seriously this movie is horrible: Acting is miserable, the plot is very poor and you only see Anderson Silva & Lyoto Machida for a minute. On top of that fights are poorly choreographed and the kid which is really an amateur is pain to watch.

Perhaps one positive touch is the soundtrack but all the rest is rubbish.

So if you really have two hours to waste watch any other movie I am sure it could only be better.

Don't get fooled, if you want to watch a good MMA movie pick Warrior!

Tapped Out has said to been to be a new take on the Karate Kid type story but with a MMA twist. And Tapped Out was actually pretty enjoyable. Tapped Out has good acting from Cody Hackman, Michael Biehn, and Krzysztof Soszynski. The film was just a little long even though it was quite fun with its awesome and gripping action but also had good characters. The story follows Michael Shaw from when his parents getting carjacked and murdered until he seeks revenge and wants to fight the man that killed his parents. Tapped Out also had some beautiful action and landscape shots. Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida also have a very cool cameo.The characters where well developed and main character Michael has an interesting love interest. The film also has some hilarious jokes here and there. unlike lots of recent films Tapped Out uses practical effects which are always awesome. The film has a great amount of action, and good dialog. The movie has many different genres romance, drama, action and comedy! I would definitely recommend Tapped out!

This film is an MMA lover's wet dream. There are plenty of great fights, badass action sequences, and some cool cinematography to make it look even better. It was great to see Michael Biehn in this too, as it's been a while since he's been in anything. He plays a washed up Karate coach who has to train the main character. It was a lot of fun to see him on screen.

Personally I'm not a fan UFC, but I still enjoyed it. I found it to actually be a lot better than it should have been. The script may have been basically written entirely in clichés, and it was predictable beyond belief, however, I couldn't help but enjoy the hell out of it. It's simply a badass film, and for that it's really enjoyable. The action scenes were exciting and tense, the sappy scenes never felt overly sappy, basically I just found it to be a perfectly enjoyable movie. It's basically Batman meets The Karate Kid in story line. The performances are pretty meh, but forgivable, as most of the actors aren't really actors. The editing and camera work are awesome, they compliment the movie perfectly. For a film like this, I actually enjoyed watching it, and for this film's target audience, that's all that's really needed. It's really fun, and has a lot of cool visuals and editing. Just don't go into it overthinking anything. If you love MMA, you'll love this movie.