The Condemned (2007) DVD > Reviews (7)

The Condemned is an action film that was released in 2007 and stars Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones. The film is rated 18 due to very strong language and violence and is 109 minutes long.

Plot
Jack Riley is awaiting execution in a Salvadorian prison for blowing up a building there that was being controlled by drug dealers. Riley isn't who everyone thinks he is and today is his lucky day...someone bribes the head guy at the prison and buys him out of his sentence.

A wealthy TV producer 'buys' 9 other extremely dangerous convicts from around the world in order for them to take part in his online, live show. The 10 convicts are put on a deserted island, quite far away from most of the crew with a bomb connected to their ankles. Each bomb has a 30 minute timer and a ripcord with a 10 second delay. Each of the 'contestants' must battle it out to be the last survivor in order to win their freedom back. Every single bit of action is being filmed and streamed online to the whole world and someone realises Riley definitely shouldn't be there.

Cast
Steve Austin - Jack Conrad
Vinnie Jones - Ewan McStarley
Masa Yamaguchi - Go Saiga
Emelia Burns - Yasantwa Adei
Manu Bennett - Paco Pacheco
Marcus Johnson - Kreston Mackie
Dasi Ruz - Rosa Pacheco
Nathan Jones - Petr Raudsep
Andy McPhee - Helmut Bruggerman
Rai Fazio - Dominic Giangrasso

Special features
- The making of
- Stone Cold at movie world
- Theatrical Trailer
- Audio commentary
- Storyboard sequences

What I thought
This film got a lot of bad reviews but I didn't think it was that bad. I think you just need to remember that any film with Steve Austin in, can't be taken too seriously. When you see who the two main leads are, you know it is pretty much going to be a film about fighting that's filled with action.

Stone Cold Steve Austin is best known for being a WWE wrestler but I thought he made a fantastic transition into films. He isn't the greatest actor but he did give a good performance in this film. I thought his character, Riley, had a great mix of being both the good guy and the bad guy and Austin pulled this off well. Riley is very quiet and reserved to begin with and doesn't want any part of this game and even lets someone go without killing them but he soon realises that it really is kill or be killed.

Normally I hate Vinnie Jones and stay well away from any of his films but as I was forced to watch this one, I couldn't help it. Jones does play the hard man really well and adds some much needed humour into this film to make it a little more light hearted. Seeing as the convicts were from all over the world, I should have really been routing for him because he was British but I quite liked the Japanese assassin instead.

From the plot description I gave, you would think this film is just a massive killing spree but there is a background story to go with it. Riley is an ex secret service operative but is known as Jack Conrad in the 'game'. I think this added extra really helped this film appeal more towards the girls because if it had been all about the killing, I think I would have turned it off pretty quick.

For the main story, it is quite predictable but it didn't take anything away from the film for me. I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish and was quite surprised by how much I ended up liking The Condemned. There is a lot of violence and a fair bit of blood etc so I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with a weak stomach, other than that though, it is a great film.