Conceptually, 'The Condemned' isn't a bad idea: 10 death row prisoners are rounded up and placed on an island. They've got 30 hours to kill each other off or a bomb on their ankles will kill everyone if more than one is left. 'The Condemned' is 'Battle Royale' and 'The Most Dangerous Game' filtered through 'Rollerball.' Unfortunately the filter is the 'Rollerball' remake and not the James Caan original.
What 'The Condemned' wants to present and what it actually achieves are two different things. Although a modestly enjoyable actioner the film's interesting premise is sabotaged by a lack of courage. The film hides behind cardboard indignation and tries to satirize reality TV. 'The Condemned' asks of the violence that it shows, "Isn't this disgusting? Isn't this just wrong?" It revels like a pig in filth though, holding it's nose to ignore the smell as it rolls in the mud shamelessly enjoying the thing it wants to 'condemn.' I wouldn't mind so much if the film had been just been better executed. This is a movie that doesn't know if it wants to be satirical or exploitative. It fails as such then because it waffles helplessly lost between the two. If satire was the goal, then the film-makers should have more fearlessly embraced the violence. Show the violence and repel the 'actual' audience while having the crew unwaveringly celebrate it. Here they set up scenes and then cut back to the truck where the crew complains that maybe 'doing this is wrong,' or that 'maybe we shouldn't be doing this.' I can live with that. When they go on in the next breath to say that there is a better angle shot from a different camera, the film undermines itself. I suppose the gimmick is that reality TV (or live-stream reality internet in this case) will do whatever it takes. It strikes as very amateur.
What acting there is isn't bad. Steve Austin doesn't have a lot to work with but he's good with the one-liners. His character is hard to connect to because of the wishy-washy script. Austen's character is mostly interested in not playing the game, tries to tell other competitors this but offers no apparent plan on how he intends to get away -- or maybe he doesn't intend to get away since he also gets caught up in a needless sub-plot about getting in touch with his girlfriend to let her no that he's stashed some money aside for her. Vinnie Jones chews scenery and is great as the main villain in a cast of heavies.
Too bad about 'The Condemned.' The film-makers should have just gone with the core idea -- ten people on an island trying to kill each other in front of an internet audience -- and been less ambitious. This is a case where a popcorn movie shouldn't have tried to have a brain or respectability and is weakened by being a pig that tries to understand why it rolls in the mud instead of just doing it. I like smart movies and I like dumb movies. This one would have been a lot better if it had just embraced being mindless.
What 'The Condemned' wants to present and what it actually achieves are two different things. Although a modestly enjoyable actioner the film's interesting premise is sabotaged by a lack of courage. The film hides behind cardboard indignation and tries to satirize reality TV. 'The Condemned' asks of the violence that it shows, "Isn't this disgusting? Isn't this just wrong?" It revels like a pig in filth though, holding it's nose to ignore the smell as it rolls in the mud shamelessly enjoying the thing it wants to 'condemn.' I wouldn't mind so much if the film had been just been better executed. This is a movie that doesn't know if it wants to be satirical or exploitative. It fails as such then because it waffles helplessly lost between the two. If satire was the goal, then the film-makers should have more fearlessly embraced the violence. Show the violence and repel the 'actual' audience while having the crew unwaveringly celebrate it. Here they set up scenes and then cut back to the truck where the crew complains that maybe 'doing this is wrong,' or that 'maybe we shouldn't be doing this.' I can live with that. When they go on in the next breath to say that there is a better angle shot from a different camera, the film undermines itself. I suppose the gimmick is that reality TV (or live-stream reality internet in this case) will do whatever it takes. It strikes as very amateur.
What acting there is isn't bad. Steve Austin doesn't have a lot to work with but he's good with the one-liners. His character is hard to connect to because of the wishy-washy script. Austen's character is mostly interested in not playing the game, tries to tell other competitors this but offers no apparent plan on how he intends to get away -- or maybe he doesn't intend to get away since he also gets caught up in a needless sub-plot about getting in touch with his girlfriend to let her no that he's stashed some money aside for her. Vinnie Jones chews scenery and is great as the main villain in a cast of heavies.
Too bad about 'The Condemned.' The film-makers should have just gone with the core idea -- ten people on an island trying to kill each other in front of an internet audience -- and been less ambitious. This is a case where a popcorn movie shouldn't have tried to have a brain or respectability and is weakened by being a pig that tries to understand why it rolls in the mud instead of just doing it. I like smart movies and I like dumb movies. This one would have been a lot better if it had just embraced being mindless.