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Directed by: Bill Corcoran
Produced by: Tap-Out, Grindstone Entertainment
Released by: E1 Entertainment
Written by: Hector Echavarria & Eamon Glennon
Rated: 18 (UK); R (US)
Running time: 90mins
DVD Release: Out now (UK)
Cast
Hector Echavarria – Reinero
Tanya Clarke – Kira
Nick Mancuse – Ivan
Keith Jardine – Andre
Sarain Boylan – Sophie
Kevin Jubinville – Russell
Ron Gabriel – Gus Goldstone
Lara Dans – Amka
Nate Marquardt – Luca ‘The Brute’ Popoff
Cairo Noble – Jackey
Rashad Evans – El Croco
Louis Paquette – Kang Lai
George St. Pierre – Shaman
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson – Wolf
Synopsis
A gritty MMA fighter is forced into a twisted, underground gambling ring in which he must fight to the death with other MMA fighters in order to save his wife from certain death at the hands of a maniacal crime boss. In a desperate race against time, he is forced into a series of increasingly violent life and death matches while simultaneously piecing together the puzzle which leads him to uncover the identity of the promoter and the ultimate showdown, in which there can only be one Death Warrior.
Review
After the surprisingly fantastic Blood & Bone (seriously, go see it, the film is awesome) and the crushing disappointment that was Unrivaled, it’s now time for me to review a third MMA-inspired movie for W101. The big question is in which side of the fence will Death Warrior fall? The omens aren’t good before I press play as this film has been written by the same person who wrote the abysmal Unrivaled. This potential pitfall is compounded by the fact the writer of both movies is also the lead actor/fighter of both movies as well – could this be a death blow for Death Warrior?
Hector Echavarria may be a nice guy in real life, but his writing and acting are abysmal, with one look at his Wikipedia page creating the impression of an egotistical narcissist who couldn’t cut in the real MMA world, so instead makes these movies to show himself beating current MMA stars through the medium of film. Seriously, go read his Wiki page and tell me he didn’t write that mess himself.
Written and made before Unrivaled, although released after, Death Warrior is another uninspiring mess of shoddily shot fights, naked ladies that are there for no reason other than to have naked ladies in the scenes, acting that would shame a school play and a recycling of the only plot Hector seems to know; man is forced to fight, he fights, goes through a series of increasingly more difficult opponents until he succeeds in the end. It’s very generic and it’s frankly boring to sit through again and again with the same group of people.
Jardine, “Rampage” and St. Pierre (who looks convincingly bad-ass) all show competence in the acting stakes, but it’s not enough to save this utter turkey of a fight movie.If I never see Hector Echavarria in another film, I certainly won’t complain. As it is, this is another 90mins I’m never getting back.
Do yourself a favour; ignore this and go watch Blood & Bone.
Extras
This was a review copy, so there were no extras on the disc I watched and there’s nothing online to suggest any extras at this time.
Summary
I really, really dislike this movie. The acting is atrocious, the script laughable, the fight scenes too cluttered and the leading man just isn’t very likeable as a hero. Mix all that together and you have a recipe for disaster that is unavoidable.
The bar set by Blood & Bone remains intact and this is the worst of the MMA fighters-starring films I’ve reviewed for this site. As I said for my last review, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this movie to you unless you absolutely have to have all films in the genre. Bad acting, bad script, bad direction and bad choreography all add up to a bad film.
Avoid like the plague.
Movie: 1/10
Extras: N/A
Buy It:
UK: DVD