The Condemned

Director: Scott Wiper
Starring: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones, Madeleine West, Robert Mammone, Rick Hoffman, Tory Mussett, Emelia Burns, Masa Yamaguchi
Running Time: 113 min.
Rating: R

**1/2 (out of ****)

While it may not exactly seem like a compliment, The Condemned is the best movie produced thus far by WWE Films and features the best performance by a professional wrestler in one of them. At the film's center is slightly more than just the germ of a good idea. It's a great, if unoriginal concept that never quite lives up to its full potential. You could put up an argument that it's a fun, action-packed movie, just not a very well made one. While a million times better than the previous two WWE efforts, it does face a familiar problem that seems to plague all their films (and television product): They take a decent concept and dumb it down to the lowest common denominator. They get further here though because this concept is actually far better than decent and the mindless action scenes are exciting.

The acting ranges from completely awful to good, Scott Wiper's direction is average at best and the script is sufficient for what's being done here. It's unfortunate the entire film has a direct-to-DVD feel and the middle portion drags because with this concept we could have gotten a lot more. Still, compared to the other two WWE features this may as well be Citizen Kane. It actually does some things right, but unfortunately not enough for me to comfortably recommend it. With all the films being remade these days, I wouldn't mind seeing a remake of this down the line with a better director, cast and script. The best news to come out of this is what made "Stone Cold" Steve Austin click as a wrestling performer on television is translated nicely onto the big screen and he does a good job in his starring debut.

Mastermind television producer Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone) has an idea that will change the face of entertainment: strand ten death row inmates from all over the world on a remote island and broadcast live over the internet their battle to the death for survival, With 22 hours until show time and short a contestant, Breckel finds a last minute replacement in Jack Conrad (Austin), a bad ass ex-military officer being held in a Central American prison awaiting execution. He's joined by nine other convicts, who include a sadistic Irishman (Vinnie Jones), a giant Russian (ex-WWE wrestler Nathan Jones), an exotic looking, but dangerous female assassin (Emelia Burns) and a martial arts specialist (Masa Yamaguchi). By the way, if they're looking to cast a Quick Kick for the upcoming G.I. Joe movie, it's clear by the end of this Yamaguchi is their man. We don't learn much about any of them before they're quite literally dropped on the remote island to do battle with one another. It's then where things start to pick up as we get a better idea of each of their personalities, what they bring to the table, and most importantly, who can be trusted and who can't. It's also ends up being the second film this year (behind Disturbia) to make clever use of an ankle bracelet to advance its plot.

A giant "X" appears on the screen over the photo of each participant as they're brutally killed off with millions watching. Expectedly, there's dissention in the control room between Breckel and his producers, who think he's gone too far. This is actually handled well and helping matters is the casting of character actor Rick Hoffman as one of them, who you might remember from his scene-stealing role at the end of Hostel. He does much of the same great supporting work here and his character ends up being one of the few we actually care about. When the film shifts gears to give us some back story on who Jack Conrad is and introduces a silly sub-lot involving a crusading F.B.I. agent and government corruption, the movie's momentum is stopped dead in its tracks.

Austin is believable as a lone wolf fighting for survival, but the introduction of a girlfriend at home just serves to set him up for a scene where his acting falters. Making matters worse, the actress playing her, Madeleine West, has no screen presence at all and feels like a second rate stand-in for someone more talented who dropped out of the project. Luckily, the film regains its footing toward the final half-hour with some very exciting fight sequences leading to a memorable final showdown with some surprises thrown in. Vinnie Jones accomplishes what can't be considered a small feat making a formidable onscreen opponent for Austin and there's a clever death scene at the very end of the film (I won't say involving whom) that would have caused an entire theater to applaud, if only anyone had seen the movie when it was released. Unfortunately, it then decides to go on for one more scene than necessary after that near perfect ending.

You can actually hear Mammone's Australian accent sliding in and out as the evil t.v. producer Breckel, which is strange considering the role would have struck a more effective note if he kept it to begin with. Were the filmmakers afraid they'd face a defamation lawsuit from Survivor creator Mark Burnett? Mammone looks and acts like a poor man's Peter Sarsgaard, failing to convince us he's dangerous enough to pull this off and not really coming off all that believably as a television producer, or at least a very good one. A more experienced, veteran actor would have been a much better choice for this part.

I also found it strange that this internet show isn't being treated as a bigger deal. Other than a scene with people watching in a bar and an effectively confrontational t.v. interview with Breckel early on, you don't get the impression it's all that important. In this YouTube generation, wouldn't kids be rushing home and stealing their parents' credit cards to watch this? Wouldn't there be Condemned parties going on? Wouldn't there be protesting? This is supposed to be a big deal! I'm not expecting a deep social commentary from a WWE produced film but when you introduce a premise like this it's almost a tease not to go all the way with it. Even just a couple of scenes like those would have really helped the film. In the least it would have been more effective than the worthless time spent on Conrad's girlfriend and an F.B.I. conspiracy.

This internet show feels like a cheap, low-rent underground operation, which does suit the style of this film, but unfortunately also dilutes the impact of the story. A better director also would have better exploited the setting, which has tons of visual potential. To be fair, Wiper does make some attempts in the third act to explore the theme of its premise. One of the most ridiculous criticisms leveled against The Condemned has been that it delivers a message against exploiting violence when it spends the entire film exploiting it itself. That's unfair. It's absolutely necessary the film show brutal violence to make that point or the intended message is completely diluted. To say this is gratuitously violent is way off the mark, especially when Swiper actually makes a classy decision at one point to not show a certain uncomfortable scene and more effectively leave it up to our imagination. Did I just use the word "classy" in a review of a WWE film?

It's a shame that many, including those within WWE, have blamed Austin for the failure of The Condemned at the box office considering his performance is right on target for the material. I'm sure not promoting the film at all and opening it against Spider-Man 3 didn't play a role. It may not be necessary for Austin to prepare his Oscar acceptance speech, but for what he's asked to do, he delivers. Swiper was smart enough not to give him anything he couldn't handle and Austin's intimidating stare and icey delivery work for the character.

His performance here is miles ahead of John Cena's embarrassing work in The Marine, mainly because he wisely isn't asked to show any kind of emotion or dimension. Unlike Cena's outing, his weaknesses as an actor are well protected. Supposedly, now all WWE produced films will go straight to DVD, where many could argue they belonged all along. That's ironic because this effort showed some improvement and was the only one of the three WWE films that could come reasonably close to justifying a theatrical release. Unlike The Marine, The Condemned is at least about something and there's a reason for its existence. It's almost good, which is really the best we could have hoped for.