“The Condemned” is another attempt for the World Wrestling Entertainment Company to break one of its superstars into film. The only successful wrestler in the last 10 years to do it was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin had the same rabid fan base as Johnson, and so the movie was green lit and now here it is in the cinemas.

When the movie opens, Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone) is a rich television producer who has an idea to take 10 convicts, who are all awaiting execution on death row, to a deserted island to fight it out for 30 hours. After which, Breckel claims, the last survivor will be released to freedom with a lot of money.

However, all the inmates are fitted with ankle bracelets that are rigged with explosives that will detonate if the red tag is pulled on them, or if after 30 hours, the other nine are not dead. The 10 inmates are chosen from different countries, each being “purchased” by Breckel. He has the deserted island fitted with cameras everywhere to catch the carnage and broadcast it live over the Internet.

The characters are mostly generic, aside from the obvious “good guy” type in Austin’s character, Jack Conrad, a former Army Special Forces operative and the obvious “bad guy,” Ewan McStarley, played by Vinnie Jones.
           
The movie is amazingly brutal. The action is intense and sudden. This adds to the movie because it makes things seem very unpredictable. The “reality TV” nature of the film is apparent.

However, what makes the movie interesting also hurts it. The movie is a satire waiting to happen, but it seems at the end as if director Scott Wiper added those elements more to shake a finger at the audience for watching than being actually meaningful.

Produced and heavily marketed by WWE, “The Condemned” was supposed to erase the box-office failures of other WWE-produced films such as “The Marine” and “See No Evil.”  It did neither.

However, that is not to say it is a bad film. It was a lot better than I anticipated. It’s the cinematic equivalent of finding an extra 20 bucks in your jeans when you thought you were broke. Sure, it’s a mindless romp, but action fans and Stone Cold fans alike will enjoy the film.

Rating: 4/5