2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I can't believe Jalal Merhi made a watchable movie, November 24, 2006
This review is from: The Circuit (DVD)
Now first of all I was realy stuck between a 2 and a 3 but the movie just gets too freaking stupid.
So Jalal Merhi directs this movie. The same guy you may remember as the little Iranian guy who started acting in B-action movies in the early 90's. So Oliver Gruner stars as a gym teacher for track stars at a college, I think so at least, they don't exactly dwell on that. So he has a student(his brother) and it just so happens that these guys who are sitting in a car looking for fighters are scoping him out and notice Oliver. Just so happens that they all recognize him and whadda ya know, he was an undefeated fighter in a kumite type thing they call "The Circuit". Not the most original name and it isn't like they try to say they are inventing something. This movie really doesn't have a beginning, it just sort of happens. So basically Oliver's brother is forced to fight in the circuit and then Oliver has to go fight and save him. Now the fights are pretty fun to watch. Billy's Blanks's brother Michael gets in some great kicks and the villian is pretty good. Of course though Oliver is the man. He is usually a really flashy kicker but doesn't really get to display much of that in this movie. With this film being made around 2001 they incorporated a lot of MMA type of fighting. I thought it was a great touch to have training sequences for Oliver though they could have been a lot better.
Now the movie was a bit below average but the fight scenes really make it. Unfortunately with Merhi directing this the end involves people hitting Oliver over and over and then before he is about to be hit for the 12th time, he makes his move and defeats his opponent. This goes on for like 3 fights and just gets a bit boring to say the least. The final fight is outrageously stupid and I won't spoil it for you but I hope that you at least have a good laugh about it like it did.
The DVD release it outstanding. Extended interviews with cast and crew and a commentary with the director, composer, and the editor. Unfortunately I found it really boring. Odd to see this amount of good special features but still nice to see. 5.1 sound is also decent.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
"What's so special about this guy, anyways?", October 27, 2011
This review is from: The Circuit (DVD)
Of all the lower-budget action heroes whose movies I watch, Olivier Gruner is unjustifiably the most neglected. You're a good guy, Olivier, and I'm sorry that I don't come around to your stuff more often...except when it comes to films like "The Circuit". An earlier directorial outing of fellow action hero-turned-filmmaker Jalal Merhi, the movie is a respectable undercard of lower-name fighters but is nevertheless one heck of a boring mess, lacking both an intriguing story and proper direction. I respectfully disagree with a couple of my comrades about the quality of this one, which makes it clear why next to no one besides devoted fans have heard of Gruner or Merhi these days.
The story: when the brother of ex-underground fighter Dirk Longstreet (Gruner,
Nemesis) is blackmailed into competing in the deadly "Circuit" tournament, he will need to become a better fighter than he ever was to best the criminals and save his sibling.
The movie's cast includes Bryan Genesse (
Street Justice), the "Tiger Twins" Simon and James Kim (
Xtreme Fighter), Loren Avedon (
The King of the Kickboxers), Michael Blanks (brother of Billy,
Dragon Fire), and director Merhi himself (
Tiger Claws trilogy). Of these, only Blanks and the Kims actually fight - Avedon and Merhi are hardly even in the movie - although you can't really blame the rest of them from distancing themselves from these disappointing brawls. Olivier has one decent fight against three thugs on a bridge, but the rest of the brawls are either poorly choreographed or too short to appreciate. There's no shortage of fights, but most of them are so fleeting that I refer to individual clusters of 'em as montages. Even the training scenes are dull, in which Gruner punches bottles into the ground, tackles punching bags, heaves bags of cement, and assaults tree stumps.
Much of the remaining film's lacklusterness is due to Jalal Merhi's style of directing, which favors a bland-as-hell color scheme and overblown musical cues. The movie's pacing is never really slow, but everything's played and presented with such a lack of enthusiasm that it's difficult to care about anything or anybody involved. The script by Merhi minion Glen Doyle doesn't help: this guy wrote an apparently pretty good
book on martial arts years ago, but his script is filled with unnecessary characters and story tangents, fails to logically take time into account in the progression of events, and doesn't highlight any of the characters in any way. I sort of like the role played by Billy Drago (
The Untouchables) as Merhi's teacher, but it's mostly for Drago's sake. There are occasional flashes of enjoyable craziness (e.g. to storm the gates of the arena, Dirk commandeers a bulldozer and drives it a distance that it took a regular car an entire night to cover) but they're wedged in amidst such an ocean of blah that they'd easily blend in with the rest of the movie to the casual viewer.
For now, I'm holding out that Gruner makes an appearance in the upcoming
Expendables sequel, because that man requires nothing less to keep his career above water after junk like this. For aspiring fans, I suggest you check out his earlier stuff before getting into this period of his career, which would have to endure two more poor Merhi-directed movies before he could flee into true obscurity.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
one of the best, of the more recent, of its kind, September 26, 2006
This review is from: The Circuit (DVD)
The era of "B-grade American-made martial arts movies" ended around the mid to late 90's. Since then its hard to find any of these films, especially any of somewhat decent quality. Fortunately, the genre has not gone completely extinct and here is a fine example of one of the best still to survive - The Circuit, which thankfully, also produced a decent sequal.
One of the best things I like about The Circuit is the overall quailty of the film. Oliver Grunner adds a freshness to martial arts films as the main character. His acting and fighting skills are up there with the best of them for this kind of movie. The other actors, including the villain (or should I say villains, played by "The Tiger Twins") are decent too. The film quailty, directing, sound and music is all above par. The fights are great too. I like the arena where the illegal tournaments take place - somewhat of an outdoors Medieval Times looking arena, but it works.
Lots of fights throughout the film to please, mostly between a group of various opponents in the arena. The final fight was really cool and original. I won't say exactly what happens, but it involves the Tiger Twins. I loved it.
The Circuit is just wonderful, an above average B-grade movie for sure. Check out its sequal too, not quite as good but still delivers high quailty action. I hope more movies are made like this in the future to come.
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