Beatdown
Beatdown
R | 31 August 2010 (USA)

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Brandon, a respected street fighter, is forced to flee the city after his brother is murdered and the money that was supposed to be paid back to a local gangster is stolen. While lying low at his father's house in a small Southern town, Brandon soon gets involved in the local underground cage-fighting circuit. With the help of Drake Colby, a former MMA champion, Brandon devises a scheme to bring a massive payday, if they are able to survive.

Reviews
Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Pluskylang Great Film overall
SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Geoffrey Held 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.
Comeuppance Reviews 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
Kelchubordnor 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.
zlove-1 This is one of the most painful film experiences I have ever endured. The acting is terrible. The editing is extremely irritating. The story has all the dramatic depth of a six year old's school creative writing assignment. The thinly hidden marketing saturating the movie is distracting. Fight scenes, awful, and in total, around 10 minutes max of the film's 90 (agonizing) minute runtime. You wanna see real fight scenes, watch Asian cinema. Writing, terrible. Characters, wooden and with stupid 'backstories' lifted in a hurry from a billion other (better) films. This whole thing reeks of self-indulgence and money, but offer no shred of entertainment. None. Even like Sunday hangover brainless action fun. It is that bad. Do not ever watch this film, even for free.