Beatdown (2010)

I watched this last night on TV. I have to say it was one of the worst films I have seen in awhile. The acting was tolerable and the story followed a basic lineal pattern. A movie to watch if you don't want to have to dig for the films meaning, this film lacks that entirely. I think when they decided to edit this movie that let a little kid go nuts with the visual effects. It in no way added any artistic quality to the film. There are moments where characters interact for short periods of time and then it fades to black. This is a common fade away method but it was used to death in this film. The fights were brutal but usually ended in the same unsurprising manner. The fights were accompanied by rock/metal music that at times fit but not always. Anywho I would steer clear of this Gem.

Brandon (Youngblood) is a tough street brawler whose brother Frankie is killed by gangsters. Now the gangsters are after Brandon for the 40,000 dollars his brother owed. Brandon then flees to a small Southern town where he develops a romance and also lives with his paraplegic father (Trejo). It's not long before Brandon enters the underground Punchfighting circuit where the reigning champion is Victor Dean (Balfour). It turns out the burgeoning romance is with Dean's sister Erin (Abromeit), and Victor's not happy. Brandon moves up the ranks and eventually faces off against Victor. Who will win? The biggest problem with this movie is the editing. There are weird, unnecessary cuts, as well as puzzling camera zooms and spins. The fights are pretty brutal when you can see them, as there are plenty of blood-soaked fences (yes, fences!) to show the extreme nature of the fighting. Also quite extreme is the now-prerequisite playing of the song "Wildfire in the Streets" by Tommy Fields. Surely the makers of all these modern-day Punchfighters must have known that fans don't watch just one of these things. If you like one, you probably will like them all, and fans would notice the constant reappearance of Tommy Fields.The plot is also haphazard, as there is a quick setup with the gangster Gino Ganz which kind of falls by the wayside until much later. All the clichés you know and love are present and accounted for - the training sequence and the silly love story, with its insipid dialogue. There's plenty of "Barnfighting", as Southern "redneck" stereotypes are beaten by Youngblood. There's, inexplicably, a TapouT octagon in the middle of a state fair in the deep south. Their tentacles reach from there to prisons everywhere, as Locked Down (2010) proves.Youngblood is relatively likable, but as you might expect, Danny Trejo is the best actor in the movie. He seems like he doesn't care, but it could be his character.If only the directing and editing were competent, this would be a not-bad modern-day Punchfighter. As it stands, Beatdown is not really a success.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Before I start my review, please don't watch this if you have epilepsy or any reaction at all to flashing lights. I have very bad eyesight and believe me this movie hurts to watch. Simply put the details are guy is a fighter has to pay off brothers mob debt and fights underground to do it, throw in a beautiful actress and some very decent mma guys including Michael Bisping who is one of the best. That is the story in a nutshell and yes it has been done before a few times. What ruins the whole thing is the atrocious editing. there is so much camera movement, flashing in and out and I could go on but this movie literally made my eyes ache. And I don't just mean the fight scenes which have been obliterated by the atrocious editing. The camera seems to be constantly fighting with the camera man and the director and the editor and nobody wins. This movie would have worked if the camera had stayed focused and just stayed still. I wont get technical about the quality of mma etc as it is too hard to see anything with this movie. I love my action flicks and to be honest I think mortal kombat had better editing than this . Such a shame. I bought this DVD because I saw Michael Bisping on the cover. Wish I hadn't.

You have some nice fighters , you have a OK story.. and what did the directory do ? Ruining the movie with so many unnecessary "effects" from 30 different camera angels in the space of 5 minutes and filling the screen with ongoing blurs, zoom ins/outs and the famous shaky effect that would make anybody with a slight case of Epilepsy seizure up after only watching 10 minutes of it. So final review.. The movie contains a story ,has some fights in it but isn't great. If you want a action movie to fill bored Sunday night with absolutely nothing on TV then you could watch it but be sure to find out if you have epilepsy first.