DVD review: Ultimate Force (Video 2005)

Taking a break from horror and sleaze and watching a US/Croatian co-production starring K-1 and UFC fighter Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic, with a estimated budget of $1,200,000 according to IMDB it certainly has a higher budget than the average film reviewed here on Independent Flicks but it certainly feels and looks low budget. Axon Rey (Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic) is a heavily decorated war hero and former tactical police officer who has been recruited by a covert government organization to fight enemies of the state. Schooled in the martial arts as well as in the latest high tech weapons, Rey, now code-named Sphinx, is a member elite member of the sanction division of SATO (State Anti-Terrorist Organization), a clandestine organization of assassins under the direct control of SIN (State Intelligence Network). During his last assassination mission Sphinx has failed. Normally the state deals with such failures easily; it executes the executioner. Since Sphinx is the top assassin, his controller, Janus, decides not to eliminate him immediately. He sends him to a rehabilitation island called Gulag 7 where he will have to face other government operatives who have been sent to the island for various reasons. Ultimate Force is written and directed by Marc Burson.
Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic might be good as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter but he´s definitely not a good actor, but to be fair he has hardly any dialogue and acts like a robot even during the emotional scenes, but the rest of the cast doesn´t impress either. There is a lot of action but the fight scenes which are choreographed by Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic are badly made, badly shot and edited and downright boring. On the plus side they actually use real firearms firing blanks in the film during the gunplay and not soft air guns and adding CGI muzzle flashes which is common place in low budget films. 
The review is based on a DVD released by Pasadena Pictures i Austria, it´s uncut and has a english audiotrack.
Rating: 1 out of 7.  Ultimate Force could have been a good Direct to Video action but it fails to deliver goods as the action scenes are in most part badly made and usually ends to soon. 

/JL