Review of Condemned, The

Introduction

The film begins in a prison in Belarus, where four prisoners are sent to fight a fellow inmate. While a camera looks on, he brutally despatches them as halfway round the world, TV producer Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone) declares `I want him`. The prison governor is duly bribed and the behemoth is bought to take part in a competition where he can win his freedom by killing the other condemned prisoners on the island.

This is no ordinary competition and obviously no TV networks will touch it, so Breckel plans to stream it over the internet at $50 a pop, using hidden cameras to film the action and gain an audience as large as that attracted by the Super Bowl. Each contestant is fitted with a GPS ankle-bracelet containing an explosive set to detonate in 30 hours. The only other way it can be removed is by winning the competition.

The two main contestants are Jack Conrad (Steve Austin) and Ewan McStarley (Vinnie Jones) - a man without a past and a mass-murdering rapist, in a fight to the death.

Video

The anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer is excellent, but as it was only released last year, I`d expect nothing less. The visual effects are very well done and the violence is suitably extreme.

Audio

The sole option is a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track, which is perfect for this kind of surround-heavy film. It is an excellent mix, with clear dialogue and atmospherics that give your surrounds a good workout.

There are optional English HoH subtitles available, which are also very good.

Features

There are two commentaries: the first a solo effort by director Scott Wiper talking about the making of the film, casting and location shooting and the second where he is joined by actor `Stone Cold` Steve Austin, who talks about his experience of filming.

The Making of The Condemned - split into five sections and running for over 36 minutes. The sections can be watched individually or together using the play all function - some are just typical EPK stuff, but there are a few revealing insights to be found.

Capital Carnage Reunion - Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones watch themselves in this wrestling event and reminisce.

Stone Cold at Movie World - Steve Austin signs autographs and meets wrestling fans at Australia`s Movie World in this 1:45 puff piece for WWE.

Storyboard Sequences - Two sequences play with the film above the storyboards for comparison.

Theatrical Trailer.

Conclusion

According to the `Making of`, Rob and Andy Hedden came up with the idea when they saw the increasingly extreme nature of reality TV and wondered what would happen if it went to the Nth degree. Well I`ve seen this concept before in such films as `The Running Man` and particularly the `Battle Royale` movies, the latter having exactly the same premise, only with schoolchildren instead of condemned prisoners and far more intelligently executed.

`The Condemned` has lofty aspirations, wanting to provide a comment on the media and casual social attitudes to screen violence. However this, too, is nothing new as people have always been attracted to violent spectacles - think of public executions and Roman gladiators and, more recently Jihadist websites showing videos of executions and suicide bombings.

It was said that Steve Austin was involved in the project for over a year before Scott Wiper was brought in as director and the fact that this is a Lionsgate/WWE Films co-production means that this is clearly a vehicle for Austin to make a name for himself as an actor, just as `See No Evil` (reviewed elsewhere on this site) was for Kane, another WWE star. This is by far a better film than Kane`s effort, but is completely unoriginal and is likely to appeal only to wrestling fans who will enjoy seeing Steve Austin beating people up in a different setting. The fights are well choreographed and aided by Foley mixing that sometimes makes it sound like people have been punched by a bag of spanners. It`s meat-headed rubbish, with a complete lack of thespian talent, but is competently made.