Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Ella-May O'Brien
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Comeuppance Reviews
Diego Carter (Echavarria) is a world-famous MMA fighter who is enticed by a mannish woman named Sandra (Koys) to join an underground Punchfighting circuit. It is run by the ruthless Seifer (Kilpatrick) - ruthless in the sense that what he's really running is a prostitution ring. He calls them "consorts", and if you win a match, you get a consort, or your opponent's consort, or something like that. It's all just a tawdry excuse to have Skinemax-style softcore porn scenes with plenty of unwanted, un-asked for Hector Echavarria nudity. Ew. All this nonsense leads up to "The Tournament", presumably the ultimate battle for the ultimate consort. Also, Carter falls in love with Sandra. What's REALLY going on? This movie is like a 90-minute training video for Hector Echavarria. Somehow he was allowed to direct this thing, and it has all the inept editing and strange cuts you might expect. You never see blows connect because there's an unnecessary cut right before the blow lands.Undue emphasis is put on the fact that he uses the late night-advertised product the Perfect Pushup in his training rituals. Echavarria invited all his fighter buddies to be in the movie, whether they belong there or not, and they even go by some of their real names.In the beginning of the film, two burly men in shorts are grappling, grunting and sweating while a song with the lyrics "45 minutes of Loooove" plays. Then they grab each other's legs for the takedown. Wags who would decry these movies as homoerotic...may have a point here.Also it should be noted that Diego's "...punches carry the dream of a small child who grew up off the coast of La Plata." Naturally, The Tournament has "no rules and no referees", and Seifer notes, "is tax free". Is this a comment on today's political landscape? I know I go to modern-day Punchfighters for top-shelf punditry.Patrick Kilpatrick looks like Howie Mandel now, and screams and yells just like Nick Mancuso in Death Warrior. However, this movie makes Death Warrior look like a masterpiece. James Russo is barely in it, which was a disappointment.On the bright side, Crusher's involved.Overall, this movie is beyond dumb. Its structure resembles a brainless video game, but with more grunting.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
alchemistk91
This movie makes me want to cherish movies like Kickboxer and Never Back Down, which are at least 1000 times better than this movie was ever hoping to be.The fights were unrealistic and robot-like, the acting was TERRIBLE and there were simply WAY too many sex scenes to not be called a porno. I truly believe the star/writer/producer/director of this was simply on a power trip and wanted to get with as many girls as possible as well as beat people up with stupidly unrealistic moves.I am a huge MMA fan and the only reason I watched this was for the cameos of the UFC fighters. Sadly, the script was so amazingly terrible that it just lowered my view on the personality of some of my favourite fighters. I kind of want to beat the fight choreographer for this movie up. Plus the fighters were only in the movie for a total of about 3 to 4 minutes other than Heath Herring.Hector Echavarria should not be allowed to make movies. I could have easily written and directed a much, much, much better movie, even with the same old cliché'd storyline. Hell, a 4 year old could have probably done a better job. This 'movie' gives MMA and its fighters a bad name.The only reason I watched this movie to the end was because I could not believe that it was as bad as it was and I thought the finale would have better fights with more of the UFC fighters, sadly all it was was BJ Penn going half speed on some guy and not showing ANY of his skills and talent.This kind inspires me to go out and show Hector how to really make a movie, because I KNOW I can do a better job than that! Although sadly, I'm still 18 and in university so all you guys are gonna have to wait till a company takes me seriously, lol :)
williamjflow
Hector Echavarria please for the love of the movie going public never make a movie ever again! You make everyone sound like a Mexican, GSP's voice might be the funniest thing ever! Also, if you watch late night HBO porn, this movie actually has worse actors! BJ Penn and Rampage have a sweet 1 minute cameo, and I actually gave up on the movie before I ever saw Anderon Slyva. This movie consists of round house kicks, sex, huge haymakers, sex, jumping back fists, sex, terrible lead acting, sex and Hector Echavarria attempts to be an MMA god and fails miserbly. So, in closing, Hector Echavarria please attempt another career because movie making is not in your future. I heard Billy Mays job is open, you might have a good shot at that!
ThoughtCriminal84
I don't think I gave away any spoilers, but I checked the box just to be safe...I, like most that might be thinking of watching this film, was sucked into it because I'm a huge MMA fan and I couldn't pass up the chance to see some of my favorite fighters in a movie. Rampage and Anderson Silva are my personal favs, not to mention GSP and Penn. So I ignored the bad reviews and low scores and sat down to watch what I thought would be a fun little action movie. I mean, I love a good bad movie. (Manos anyone?) Heres what I got instead: The main actor (the "Hero" if you will) looks about 20 years too old to be fighting anyone and that alone takes away from the realism right away. Then, the lead actress is probably the worst looking girl in a movie full of butter-faces. and then you've got the fact that it seems as if they didn't have any microphones during filming because EVERY LINE is dubbed in. They even had someone else dub in GSP's lines for him! (c'mon, his accent isn't THAT bad). There's 3 or 4 cringe worthy Skinamax-style sex scenes that serve no plot purpose. There's hardly any plot to speak of really. There's nothing remotely likable about any of the characters. The soundtrack is b-movie emo-pop-punk bile and every song sounds the same as the last one. Worst of all, the MAIN PURPOSE of the film, the fight scenes, are horrible. They start off with some "ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"-style intro, and then its 4 minutes of extreme closeups, shaky cameras and unrealistic MMA. They look more like outtakes from Street Fighter or Kickboxer than they do MMA fights. and as a cherry on top, the fighter cameos are a joke. I don't know how they talked them into being in the film (because by the looks of it, this movie was made for 14 bucks), but blink and you'll miss Rampage, Penn and Silva have 2 quick fights and GSP has probably the best fight in the film. But remember, thats only relative to the suck-fest that is this movie.I was able to watch the whole thing, but it took me 4 sessions. And I only forced myself so I could get on, write this review and hopefully save someone else 90 minutes. But I know if you're looking into this movie and reading reviews, you've probably made up your mind to watch it no matter what, as I had.or...just this once, you could take a strangers advice and stay away. it really isn't worth it, its not the kind of bad thats fun. its the kind of bad thats just painful. go watch Never Back Down instead. because as dumb and unrealistic as that movie was, at least the fight scenes were somewhat fun to watch and it felt like a movie. Never Surrender feels more like a 90 minute practical joke on the viewer.