Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
dbborroughs
Non-actor Andre Lima stars in a story that mirrors his own story as a fighter who has to return to the ring when his daughter develops a brain tumor and he has get the money some how.The non-acting and unimaginative direction (its as rudimentary as you can imagine) kills this film pretty quickly.Its simply too difficult to pay any attention to the non-performances. I know its wrong to criticize people who aren't actors but normally the director can work with an actor to get a performance but here its clear the director either didn't care or wasn't able to try and make the performances into something workable. The only one giving anything like a real performance is Martin Kove as Lima's friend. To be certain it won't kill you if you run across it but its not something to seek out.
Joe K
Story line: played out but has potential. Acting: poor. Fight Choreography: good, highly technical. However, fight sequences are too short and at times can be see that no contact was made during the hit. Editing: good sound quality, good soundtrack, great visual effect that capture action. Actors and Fighters: Going back to choreography they did a good job sparing but everything else was on the poor side. In Summary: If you're a martial arts fan or fan of any of the fighter and like to see them in action, watch it and take it for what it is. However, even though its a low budget movie, I think Director should have put more effort and demanded more realism from his crew. Hope I didn't offend anyone too much :)
Steven Smith
I just watched the film. I think for a low-budget movie is way more than I was expecting. I think Andre Lima did a great job as a main actor. He is not a professional actor and he put himself in this big challenger. People need to have heart and "balls" to be in front of a camera and do the best they can. The director Gerson Sanginitto did a great work directing Andre Lima with Gary Busey and Martin Kove. I think Mr. Sanginitto has a great future as Director. The little girl Jessica was awesome! She should have a bigger part next time.I want to congratulate this small production. I been around this industry for long time, I know how hard is to produce a film and make until the end and see the final product. A lot people never finish the end line.
Jason Lee
I knew this was a low-budget independent, and I did keep an open mind before I watched it, but still it was disappointing and downright funny at times. Being a fan of martial arts as well as MMA, I have nothing but respect for Mr.Lima for coming out and making a movie on the genre. However I was misled by the cover; there was two fierce-looking fighters, one in a standing armbar, but this scene was not found in the movie at all. The acting was indeed mostly wooden, but Andre came out as a pretty likable guy.The biggest letdown was the lack of action scenes and slow pace. There were lots of scenes that I found pretty pointless, and some of the "fights" were downright hilarious. For example there was a decent sparring practice between Andre and an Asian grappler, everything went well as they showed good technique transitioning from submissions to submissions and escapes, but out of nowhere, the Asian guy does a front flip when being pushed off by Andre. This isn't Drunken Master or a Jackie Chan flick, such fancy moves as well as jumping spinning kicks are really unnecessary. Besides, mainstream Hollywood movies do it better anyways. The plot also has some serious issues, I didn't really understand it at all nor do I understand why Gary Busey took the role in this movie, he looked completely out of place. The ending was also pretty weird, I didn't get it at all but I did feel pretty relieved to finally see the credits.This movie isn't completely without positives though, there's just very little. Jennifer Chu was very fine, too bad she doesn't do more movies because her on-screen presence far exceeds other exotic-looking Asian actresses, such as Devon Aoki (i am going to kill myself if i have to hear her call Paul Walker "Bullet" again). *Some* of the fight scenes, which were all sparring and practice except the last one, were okay. Being a Taekwondo master, Andre Lima display some impressive kicking, but again most of it is flashy stuff that we see all the time in mainstream flicks. I also can't get over the fact that the movie looked an awful lot like an advertising campaign for Lima Taekwondo Schools, which was blatantly displayed at the beginning when they showed the kids training, as well as Andre's family members taking part in some of the roles, such as Jessica (Aycka Lima) who seems to be her daughter or niece. I have no problems with fighters and martial arts masters selling themselves in some way, as they do need to make a living just like anyone else, but I don't think Mr.Lima will be getting a call for an actor's role very soon. Taekwondo is fairly common, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the art that's on the rise, and Andre doesn't display it enough in this movie. Beyond The Ring has nothing on classics like Bloodsport, because there is a serious lack of passion on Andre's part. When it comes to fighting, which is basically his entire life, he just seems like a robot despite executing his kicks with impressive technique. Andre Lima should stick to being an instructor, and possibly a martial arts director or stuntsman.
