Eventually the man regains his memory slowly, but not before he gets a beating in the ring. Yes, he becomes a fighter in underground-type matches to earn money and hope that one day he'll meet his love (whom he remembers very little of) once again. Little-by-little the memories start flooding back until he's forced to face who he really was and still is. The past has ways of coming back to haunt you.

Despite the low-budget aspect the movie is still pretty good. The fighting is raw and brutal; Plenty of blood and mixed martial arts. Some of the fighting reminded me of Ong-Bak, because that was another raw fighting flick, and the lead also uses some Muay-Thai Kickboxing. Sadly, the movie does kind of fall apart towards the end, turning into nothing more than a shoot'em-up gun-fest, where somehow the hero barely gets hit, despite all the guys with their automatic weapons.

Still, I enjoyed the flick. The lead is cool and interesting and I really liked the fighting. I think had the movie came with a bigger budget and some tweaks in the script that it would've been solid sleeper martial arts movie. 7/10

For five years The Fighter has been competing, with no memory of anything prior. He doesn't even know his name. All he has are blurred images of desperately loving a beautiful woman, calling her name, Marianne--the same name tattooed in gothic letters across his chest. In a content and almost Zen like state, The Fighter keeps competing and winning. Baptized, into the Catholic faith, The Fighter donates money to the needy, and lives a clean and healthy life--a good man, however ruthlessly efficient in the ring.

Events reunite The Fighter with Marianne. He painfully pieces the fractured memories of his life together through the shadowy characters who knew him in his past. The Fighter learns he was a criminal, a cruel and dishonest murderer. A puppet in the hands of the underworld--his precious memories were of hunting Marianne, not loving her. The Fighter realizes there is only one-way to win redemption, atoning for the sins of a life he doesn't remember. The Fighter must destroy those who created him.

Anybody who thinks "Pit Fighter" is good (or even "all right") has extremely bad taste in movies (*cough* Danny... *cough* Mark... Is the director their roommate or something?). Some claim it's brutal and gritty. Yeah, right. What, they never saw blood squirt out from a guy's mouth after being kicked? Maybe it just seems brutal because Van Damme or Don "The Dragon" Wilson's name isn't on the credits.

If director Jesse Johnson makes it big in Hollywood (which I doubt... I mean, his crappy movie aside, look at his name for God's sake, it just reeks of a bad filmmaker), he'll probably end up doing something like an R-rated "Charlie's Angels" film or something, then it'll be back to Wal-Mart's $5.99 bin for him.

I never thought I'd say this, but unless you want to see how much Steven Bauer has aged since "Scarface," buy one of Van Damme's straight-to-video flicks instead. Those are at least watchable.

And before I hear: "Come on, man... it's pretty good considering its low, low-budget..." I don't care. Shut up. This movie sucks. HKflix.com has many movies in their catalogue. Don't gamble with your hard-earned cash... pick anything but this.

Review: Action films with martial arts brawling and gunplay that promise hard-boiled violence rarely deliver without resorting to mindless atrocities of gore-ridden masochism or over-stylized and smarmy odes to bygone trends. More often, increasing effort to draw in as many ticket holders/video renters as possible leads filmmakers to candy coat their film violence or rely on comic book-style effects and posturing. The divide between the shock-harnessing extremes of Takashi Miike and the overblown fluff of Michael Bay still finds common ground by both putting movie violence into a realm of celluloid fantasy that can either numb or bore the viewer with their extremes. Falling somewhere in between and left of center stage is Pit Fighter, a low budget film that within its means, beautifully projects the brutal reality of martial arts and ballistic combat while wrapped in a gritty veneer, with shades of glorious 80s excess.

Pit Fighter is the second feature film from Hollywood stuntman Jesse Johnson (The Honorable, The Thin Red Line) and his third team-up with Dominique Vandenberg (Gangs of New York), an ex-Foreign Legion Special Forces member and professional Muay Thai boxer. Vandenberg is a genuine star in the making whose lean figure, understated screen presence, and a quick and efficient fighting style makes for a potent combination when under the direction of someone who knows how to sell an action sequence. The film and its action scenes do have their limits, set by a meager $500,000 budget, but Jesse Johnson squeezes every drop out of that wad with an edgy directing style and a knack for keeping stylish clarity amid chaos reminiscent of Fernando Meirelles (City of God) and Michael Mann (Collateral).

The story is non-linear and begins with Vandenberg as Jack, a quiet, yet intense man, winning another no-rules pit fight after five years of dominating an underground brawling circuit in a small South American town. His spoils of victory are shared by his manager, a native Indian named Manolo who has dreams of forever escaping the poverty he was born to. Manolo is played by Steven Bauer who is best known for his costarring role in Scarface (1983), a film that appears to have had more than a little influence on Johnson's work.

The sight of a women Jack hasn't seen in five years begins to trigger memories of how he ended up here after surviving multiple gunshots in a violent confrontation that left him with no memory of his past life. Flashes of a life of violence and death mixed with divine images of the woman he loved and lost, together haunt Jack as he seeks solace in his newfound Catholic faith. However, the past is destined to return as Jack finds himself drawn into the center of a conflict between rebel fighters and a crime boss. As memories of an amoral killer return, Jack is forced to decide whether to remain a new man or return to the darkness he came from. Regardless, he's already on a lone collision course with a posse of gunmen and he's not about to back down.

The action in Pit Fighter is generally realistic and brutal, both in how it's acted out and choreographed. Most of the plentiful martial arts action takes place in the "pit," a ring surrounded by a simple rope and centered in a small room packed with betting onlookers. The fighting is made up of mixed martial arts and comprises a wide range of styles from capoeira and Muay Thai to jujitsu and plain old boxing. Stephen Quadros acts as fight choreographer and does a great job of mixing it up without making a spectacle out of it as with Van Damme's The Quest. With Johnson's rugged direction, the combat takes on an almost documentary-style tone. It isn't quite that real, but the filmmakers certainly don't shrink away from showing the gruesome results of two experienced fighters battling with no limits to the level of brutality they can resort to. Picture it as UFC combat without the half hour-long submissions and a lot more blood and gore. Two scenes in particular should have most audiences wincing in mock pain. Vandenberg's best opponent is Andre "Chyna" McCoy as a tattooed "Brazilian" who makes an imposing match.

Outside the ring, it's mostly gunplay that rules the day and this is also shot in the same manner. The best scene happens towards the end as the fateful shootout that left Jack with memory loss plays out. Johnson's staging is excellent and leaves a big impact. There are other violent gunplay moments that intentionally reach their full impact only later as their true nature is revealed. Flashbacks can be difficult to handle as they can easily spoil a film's momentum, but Johnson weaves through them nicely and uses the narrative rewind button only to enhance the present as each scene reveals more of Jack's past. Once all is revealed, all the previous action turns out to be a slow burn towards the explosive finale. I actually have problems with the ending. It's certainly a huge payoff, but Johnson loses the balance between a sense of reality and Commando-style action that he maintained throughout the rest of the film. But in a way, it's fitting, especially when compared to the extreme violence of Hong Kong filmmakers like John Woo and Johnnie To. The Woo reference is definitely clear as Johnson uses religion and redemption married with extreme violence as a central theme. Thankfully, Johnson is above using doves or slow-mo cliches.

What also sells Pit Fighter is above-average acting and a competent script, also by Johnson. Steven Bauer is right at home in his role and Johnson takes the time to develop his character right alongside Vandenberg. It's hard to tell if Vandenberg is a good actor or not as he remains a man of few words. It doesn't matter though because he's used well. Scott Atkins had a standout action role in Isaac Florentine's Special Forces, but comes across flat here as Jack's former brother-in-arms. It doesn't help that he gives an impassioned speech to Vandenberg that suggests more involvement and then disappears. Then there is Fernando Carrillo, the scenery-chewing Al Pacino of the movie who plays a crime boss. He's more like a Venezuelan Mark Wahlberg, but with more entertaining line delivery. He's hammy, but it works since everyone else plays it more subdued.

There are better action films out there than Pit Fighter, but you won't likely find them in the $500,000 or even $5 million range. The film has a clear vision and style that fits in the mold of the more brutal '70s and '80s action films where filmmakers weren't afraid to make their heroes villains or their action scenes mean and nasty for a reason. As a result, Pit Fighter isn't meant for a wide audience and for that I'm thankful. And any fan of uncompromising screen action should be too.