The Condemned. Review on The Condemned Movie

While thousands of Romansfilled the Colosseumto be spectators of the glorious brutality of gladiatorial, this idea of man hunting man down has come back again in modern World in a Different form. Have you ever been a participant of a reality Show? Or Do You Watch the reality Shows, like Big Boss, Roadies, Survivor, Sakar Ki Duniya, Etc.

Ever given a thought to who makes them, who watches them, what goes behind the scenes and many of those Unanswered question of Who, Where, What, How. Last night I found the bitter truth about them in its raw state, what could be a reality on Television too? It's hard to imagine an audience that won't break up in mirth at this perplexing messages given by these shows, But People do sit back and Enjoy these shows As they Love to Peep into other peoples lives and Smirk, but We all know for sure that we shouldn't really be watching them.

Last Friday Night there was this Mehndi Ceremony of a Cousin, I was Bored with the ladies Night, I came home early to watch some Election News, And found that some Shoot Out In Some Distant American City was being dished out. I failed to understand why the News Channels were following this Distance Drama; Instead I found a Movie Starting on Star Movies, The Condemned, it Sounded Interesting and started gawking at the Screen...LoL

Before reading further let me warn you that the film is full of pervasive, strong, brutal violence, and profanity in language usage. There had been few Post on MS about reality Shows and the Morality behind these Reality Shows.

THE CONDEMNED awakens you by follow the same suit of a reality Show, by building a story around ten prisoners and their fight to finish on an Island. The game is simple: the 10 contestants are dumped literally on a remote island rigged with cameras, and instructed to kill or be killed over the next 30 hours. At the end of that game, the sole survivor will be awarded his FREEDOM and a large cash prize. The twist is its not a television Show, the event is broadcast this contemporary gladiator spectacle live on Internet that can be viewed online for a payment as No network will take the show It's the first snuff film made overtly for the WWW, bringing the spectacle back down to the level of gladiator barbarism.

World Wrestling Entertainment superstar "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with his gigantic physique and vacant demeanor of pro wrestler plays the role of a former military agent Jack Conrad, whose top-secret mission to El Salvador went awry; the mountainous man winds up on death row in prison while his friends back home easily forgot about him.

The contestants are death-row prisoners held in corrupt prisons who are offered a final prospect at clemency by the megalomaniacal entertainment tycoon Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone) to take part in this illegal reality game show. Brought to a desolate island, they find themselves trapped in a fight to the death against nine other condemned killers from all corners of the world and force them to participate in a diabolical affair. The contestants are rigged with explosive ankle collars that blow up if they are tampered with, someone pulls the red tag or 30 hours pass, whichever comes first. Ten contestants fight each other to the death. The winner gets to live.

Conrad, not a murderer by nature, is forced to defend himself against fellow contestants Saiga (Masa Yamaguchi), who is a Japanese martial artist Brit McStarley (Vinnie Jones); and the fatal woman Yasantwa (Emelia Burns) to name a few.

Meanwhile, Conrad's girlfriend back home Sarah Cavanaugh(Madeline West) worries about his safety, and Mammone's own girlfriend Julie (Victoria Mussett) develops some doubts as to the morality of their online venture. The film attempts to critique the culture of violence that informs our media, but also works as a straightforward B-movie thriller, well-equipped with tough guys, one-liners, and nonstop violence.

The Director doesn't exploit the possibilities of his Jungle setting, so the only conflict is the fighting between the contestants, the only suspense comes from waiting for the next Contestant to pop out from behind a tree and do something possibly interesting. The hero doesn't have many lines, but kicks, looks menacingly and the grunts and the budget must have been kept low to make the film, but high enough for the many explosions.

The film is hypocritical at every turn, loudly preaching the evils of sick voyeurism while encouraging its audience to cheer every gruesome death they show. The filmmakers pretend to be making a statement about the public's insatiable appetite for violent fare while they are merely catering to the same in a shameless and gratuitous fashion. It's not only morally bankrupt but, between the ludicrous script and D-graded acting, violent and insane movie. The camera Work was shoddy and shaky, zoom in, zoom out like the kinds in Balaji Serials and the fight were like dance choreographed and We have FBI agents trying to find the island. You will lose your mind. I did. I was especially troubled with the scene where the most bloodthirsty of the prisoners (Vinnie Jones) bursts into a TV studio and mows down innocent staffers.

While seeming to glorify its abundant brutality, the filmmakers try to have it both ways by awkwardly cutting to an ineffectual finger-wagging Diane Sawyer-The Moralistic News Journalist who piously asks a Question "Are they Condemned or We condemned?" It’s not the show or the Show’s participants or the show's producer that saddens and angers, but the tens of millions who paid to watch the show on Internet. It’s a bold for the movie makers to tell us, audience that they are making money from us and showing us crap. LoL. I fear, We are the Condemned and the End does reflect the truth.

Directed By Scott Wiper

Screen Play Scott Wiper, Andrew Hedden, Rob Hedden

Produced By Joel Simon, Vince McMahon

WarningAdult Content, violence, profanity, drugs, vulgarity, slurs & lot of gore.