Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
FORCED TO FIGHT
Collapse
-
- Published: 12-19-2012, 09:35 AM
- 0 comments
X
Collapse
-
Forced To Fight
Released On: December 18, 2012.
Released by: Image Entertainment
Director: Jonas Quastel
Cast: Gary Daniels, Peter Weller
Year: 2012
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Remember FIGHT CLUB? If it had a non-pretentious more ballsy little brother this film would be it.
The setup is fairly basic - retired mixed martial arts fighter Shane Slavin (Gary Daniels) was once a legend in the brutal world of underground illegal fighting but now he's a devoted family man and small business owner with a lovely wife and smart son. He has a younger brother who is still in the game and even working under Shane's old boss, evil fight promoter Danny G (ROBOCOP's Peter Weller in a terrific scenery-chomping turn). When Shane's younger brother refuses to take a fall and runs out on huge debt owed to Danny G he's beaten within an inch of his life.
Danny G offers Shane a deal: come out of retirement, win 7 fights and clear his brother's debt... or else. What makes this boilerplate plot work is the surprisingly effective family drama of watching Daniels go from loving father and husband to angry paranoid jerk. As he wins more and more fights he starts to get a taste again for the old bloodlust. His wife (Alexandra Weaver) and brother (Arkie Reece) are both sympathetic figures trying to be supportive with a very frustrated loved one.
Honestly though this is all icing on the cake. We are really here to watch the fights and this is where the film really delivers. Daniels is very much in the Van Damme/Jason Statham mold - a 40+ action star in phenomenal shape who can deliver in dramatic scenes but is a first rate fighter. As Daniels gets in deeper and deeper in this world of no-holds barred brawling we get to see a wide variety of exciting mixed martial arts fighting styles as he goes from fight to fight. FORCED TO FIGHT owes a nod to the likes of BLOOODSPORT and THE QUEST, movies that pin the climax to having the hero battle his way through increasingly difficult levels combat.
With his prowling camerawork and gritty style, director Jonas Quastel dishes out killer fight set pieces without the ADD editing that can be ruinous. The tight shooting style and strong editing really show Daniels at his best. He's a terrific fighter and very much the real deal. And Weller is a great villain. Gifted with some hilarious dialog (look for the "bi-curious" line!) and decked out in a classic gangster suit and chomping a huge cigar, Weller is a hoot. His crazed vicious energy is a great contrast to the more quiet intensity of Daniels. These two have terrific energy in their scenes together.
Shot in Eastern Europe but supposedly set in Brooklyn, FORCED TO FIGHT only suffers from having some clearly non-American actors and a fairly implausible finale. It doesn't really matter though. The action is top flight and Daniels is a pleasure to watch.
Video/Audio/Extras:
For a dtv production, FORCED TO FIGHT has a solid transfer. The AVC encoded 1080p 1.78.1 transfer delivers a very strong image free from distracting digital manipulations. The color palette here is on the dark and grimy side, but that is the way the film was shot. Detail is excellent in both close and longer range shots and black levels strong. Audio is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that is nicely balanced and does quite well in the many fight scenes. Rear channel activity is immersive without being obnoxiously showy. The track is also free of distortion or drop- outs.
Extras are minimal. A very short but informative interview/behind the scenes but with Weller and a featurette on how the fights were filmed which is just under 3 minutes long. The film's trailer is also included.
The Final Word:
FORCED TO FIGHT is a solid action picture with an accomplished leading man, great villain and cool fight scenes. Recommended for both fans of the martial arts genre and those with a taste for good action films with some decent dramatic elements.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (272)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4162)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2513)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (300)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (497)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: February 22nd, 2022.
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance
Year: 1976
Purchase From Amazon
God’s Gun – Movie Review:
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini in 1976, quite late in the spaghetti western boom years, God's Gun (Diamante Lobo in Italy) introduces us to a bad, bad man named Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) who, along with his gang of equally bad, bad men, start wreaking...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:10 PM -
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 8th, 2019.
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Christopher Lee, Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo, Gaia Germani
Year: 1968
Purchase From Amazon
Hercules In The Haunted World – Movie Review:
Directed by Mario Bava in 1961 and featuring a screenplay by Bava (and Sandro Continenza, Francesco Prosperi and Duccio Tessari), Hercules In The Haunted World (also known as Hercules At The Center Of The Earth and...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:08 PM -
-
Released by: Cinématographe
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jack Nicholson
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi
Year: 1978
Purchase From Amazon
Goin’ South – Movie Review:
Made at the height of his career as an actor, 1978’s ‘Goin’ South’ sees Jack Nicholson once again in the director’s chair, seven years after his directorial debut, ‘Drive, He Said,’ failed to set the...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:29 AM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: April 20th, 2024.
Director: Noburo Nakamura
Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Mikijiro Hira
Year: 1964
Purchase From Amazon
The Shape Of Night – Movie Review:
Directed by Noburo Nakamura for Shochiko in 1964, ‘The Shape Of Night’ follows a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). In the opening scene, she’s working as a streetwalker on the outskirts of town and soon enough, she’s picked...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:26 AM -
-
Released by: Film Masters
Released on: April 23rd, 2024.
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Lugene Sanders, Susan Gordon
Year: 1963
Purchase From Amazon
Tormented – Movie Review:
The late Bert I. Gordon’s 1963 horror film, ‘Tormented,’ is an effectively spooky ghost story made with an obviously low budget but no less effective for it.
The story revolves around a professional piano player...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:19 AM -
-
Released by: Grindhouse Releasing
Released on: March 12th, 2024.
Director: William Grefé
Cast: William Shatner, Jennifer Bishop, Ruth Roman, Harold Sakata
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Impulse – Movie Review:
Directed by the one and only William Grefé, 1974’s Impulse is one of those rare films that allows you to witness what it would be like if a really sweaty William Shatner got mad at a lady carrying balloons. Before that...-
Channel: Movies
04-15-2024, 01:20 PM -