movie: The Condemned

We did not want this movie.

The Condemned somehow appeared on our Netflix queue. Neither of us remembered adding it (which probably means I did it). It looked kind of cheesy. I mean, it stars Steve Austin the wrestler, for goodness sakes. I thought I had removed it from the queue.

We still somehow magically received it.

This movie was actually pretty good.

Basically, a bunch of death row inmates are taken to an island and dropped off. Explosive ankle bracelets (like house arrest thingies) are attached to their ankles. If they mess with their new jewelry - boom. If they pull the red tab off of it - boom. The nine of them are supposed to fight to the death for the enjoyment of a pay-per-view television/internet audience. Think Death Race minus the cars.

First, Steve Austin is not the best actor. I don't want to give a full character description because I can't really do so without inserting spoilers. Part of his deal is that you don't really know why he's there. Anyway, acting - not the greatest.

Luckily the supporting characters, the studio crew and the other inmates, are played by people significantly more skilled than he is. The inmate characters were somewhat compelling. They weren't just one-dimensional movie convict stereotypes.

There is, of course, plenty of action. Some nice fight scenes. There is also running around a jungle which seems to be really well stocked with props for a place that doesn't have any civilization. Wrecked plane? Where's the landing strip? Ok, so you could conceivably have a wrecked plane with no landing strip nearby. But a burned out jeep? Busted bridge? No roads! at least not in the area the convicts were in. The props are nice to look at, however.

The movie was very entertaining to watch, really much better than we thought it would be. It gets a C+.

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