DVD review: Underground (2007)

In the UK suburbs, an underground tournament is set to challenge twelve fighters from different backgrounds to compete for the prize of £500,000. They have been handpicked for a no-holds barred competition that will push each fighter to their limit.
Each fighter has their own reason for competing, and each will give everything they've got to take the prize... But there can be only one winner... Underground is written by Oliver Morran and Chee Keong Cheung who also is the director. The acting is pretty decent but the characters are very shallow even if the filmmakers try to give them a little more depth through flashbacks and stills but on a positive note that meant that I honestly had no idea who was going to win at the end. The plot is VERY simple, and I believe that the filmmakers put their time and money into the choreography as this truly is a fight flick. The camerawork and editing is pretty good. This is of course a homage to classic 1980s martial art cinema, it made me think of Bloodsport (just one of many films featuring a underground tournament). There are plenty of fightscenes and the choreography is good. There is no gore to speak off. There´s no T & a in this, well there is some nice semi-nudity as the fighters visit a stripclub.
This review is based upon the region 2 DVD release from Action Extreme.
Rating: 2 out of 7. Underground is pretty bad due to the fact that the filmmakers forgot a few basic things while making this, there´s no story, there's barely any characterisation or depth to any character in the flick which means I (the viewer) couldn´t care less about who would win or lose. The high rating by me is only due to some nice fightscenes. Recommended to indiscriminate fans of martial arts and action

/JL