Underground – DVD Review

The Film:

Director Chee Keong Cheung’s first hard-hit blow to the world of film really blew. Cheung’s movie, Underground, about 12 fighters that sign on to engage in hand-to-hand combat, some highly trained, others just street brawlers and thugs that are hungry to make a buck, was extremely dull, formulaic, and typical of why most action/martial arts films fail to garner any highly-acclaimed appeal or are ever held high in terms of plot, acting, and intricate fight sequences. The fighters are fighting for the chance to make a million bucks, and a fight to the death for the final round. I believe that if you are going to make a film that focuses entirely on fighting, then you should have some of the most interesting and well-shot fight scenes. Some Martial Arts films are so fun to watch, not because of the excellent acting, dialogue, or mind-blowing plots, but because of the artful sequences of action-artfully crafted spinning kicks and roundhouse punches, swift elbows to the head and mighty knees to the ribs- this film lacks even the most basic elements of a decent fight film-intense action. Simply put: I was bored. The film was lackluster and at times, highly tedious.

The film stars Mark Strange, a veteran of Martial Arts for the past 24 years and who has worked with some truly legendary greats in the world of Martial Arts cinema, such as Jackie Chan and Donny Yen, but if the plot, dialogue, and script is lacking, Jet Li couldn’t make a film work by his presence alone. Its a shame because the fights feature no strings, special effects or bells and whistles. They are just experts in fighting performing in front of the camera, but it just doesn’t work. I think if the score for the film was more exciting or if the director chose to use a more upbeat and exciting soundtrack, like maybe incorporate rock songs or some raving techno, just something to jazz up the fights, it might not seem to blah. Its like getting a fine piece of meat at a restaurant with no seasonings whatsoever- plain and boring, just like this movie.

For fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and zero character development, Underground is your film. Actually, calling it a film may be quite a stretch. This film makes Van Damme’s Bloodsport seem like a ground-breaking underground fight classic. More than half the film is voice-over narration, leaving the viewer to be told where each fighter is from, what their background is, and what they’re all about- Who needs dialogue and character interaction to paint a picture for the viewer as to what the different characters are all about? The funny thing is, the film almost plays out like a dramatic no-holds barred fight with all the stats and history of the fighters, much in the same way that UFC, Pride, or Affliction fights have set up their pay-per view matches. With no big name actors, accomplished indie actors, or even any nicely crafted fighting choreography, the film really didn’t do anything for me. It was just another low-budget fight flick that was light on the action and quality of fighters. If the fighters were any good, this film certainly did not capitalize on that fact through their choreographed fight scenes.

I think the Karate Kid had better fight scenes at the end of the movie. Every scene of fighting ends with a slow-motion ending kick or punch, a freeze-frame close-up, and some terrible dialogue between the shallow investors of each fighter. Then a voice-over tells you the background of the next fighter. Its pretty much formulaic in nature and does not vary any from the format. BORING!

The DVD:

Audio/Video: The sound was decent, nothing to write home about. I would think that when making a movie with kicks and fists smashing into flesh and bone, the audio would have been overpowering to really hit home the sound-effects, but no. The video looked like it was for a cheaper low-budget indie flick. Could have had more vibrant colors and tones for the film. Sorta grayish.

Deleted Scenes: The first deleted scene really spoke bounds and volumes as to the whole pace of the whole film: LONG and TEDIOUS! These scenes are so boring and atrocious, and the actual scenes are not much better. I wanted to poke my eyes in while watching this crap!Some of the scenes have no audio and they all have the running counter on the bottom. Not worth a look at all. Almost 11 minutes of boredom.

Anatomy of a Fight Sequence: A fairly interesting portion that shows the actors rehearsing their fight sequences, almost exactly as they looked like in the film. It shows the actual scenes following the rehearsals. Too bad this segment was only 3 minutes long. It was sort of interesting.

Behind the Scenes Footage: Interesting piece that involves all the fighters in the film, each actor/actress speaking on their character in the film, accompanied by clips from the film and behind the scenes footage. Runs approximately 8 1/2 minutes.

Contains the U.S. Theatrical Trailer and the U.K. Alternate Theatrical Trailer.

Conclusion: Stay away from this film if you want a film with some decent acting, exciting fight sequences, and a script that does not bore the hell out of you. Stay far away from this low-impact dud. Underground really needs to stay very, very deep underground, with no light of day so no one else needs to sit through this tedious mess.

The Film: Rating:

The DVD: Rating:

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