Circle of Pain review (DVD) ★★

Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Kimbo Slice, Frank Mir,
Roger Huerta, Heath Herring, Dean Cain, Tony Schiena, Bai Ling | Written by Bobby Mort
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £12.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 86 minutes | Directed by Daniel Zirilli

Since the sudden surge of popularity that the UFC and mixed martial arts in general have enjoyed in the last five or so years, a number of low-budget movies based on the wild world of cage fighting have been produced, making fight flicks one of the cinematic flavours of the 2000s so far, much like the '90s when kung fu and karate were all the rage and studios clogged up our moviegoing veins with more cheese than the city of Edam.

Where Circle of Pain is concerned, it's thankfully free of a dairy injection and is much more of a hard man's rock 'n' roll good time. Far from a great movie, it's surprisingly not as bad as it looks. Of course, you should never judge a book by its cover – or a film in this case – but an indie with Kimbo Slice taking up most of the poster isn't exactly appetising. Still, he only has a cameo role, as does fellow real-life MMA combatant Frank Mir. But in the case of Roger Huerta and Heath Herring... well, they stick around and their performances really aren't that bad. And while the acting chops of the main cast leave a lot to be desired, the supporting talents of Dean Cain and Louis Herthum give the film some backbone on the run up to the big showdown.

A fresh and original film it is not, Circle of Pain tells the tale of a grizzled ex-fighter (Schiena) who is forced out of retirement by his ex-promoter (Ling) after she exploits a final fight clause in his old contract. Booked into a non-title battle against the organisation's current champion (Herring), he must overcome the rust of his five years away from the mat and step up the plate to face the new king of the cage.

Yes, it's that kind of film. It's every bit as formulaic and derivative as you'd expect, but the fact that it's quite a refined and polished picture with some great fight choreography does indeed set it apart from the rest and knocks its competition out cold, even if it suffers from having just a few too many montages and a soundtrack that comes across like a complete non-stop run-through of a heavy rock CD.

It's a breezy watch and a minor dose of punch-bag entertainment, but if you're looking for the MMA equivalent of Rocky, it's probably best that you leave this film well enough alone.

EXTRAS ★ Interviews with Roger Huerta, Heath Herring and Frank Mir; a behind the scenes feature that includes cast and crew interviews; the trailer; and a brief look at fight choreography on the set of the film.

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