Sorry, this movie sucks

Perfect cast and a good story

The first must-see film of the year.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The B-movie snob in me claims that ever since Isaac Florentine released his UNDISPUTED sequels, there's really no reason to branch into other prison fight flicks. Such snootiness was probably justified for the below-average Olivier Gruner vehicle THE CIRCUIT, but less so when it comes to that one's sequel. THE CIRCUIT 2 makes a genuine effort to address the shortcomings of its predecessor and is definitely the better movie, though its considerable faults will probably make it a waste of time for viewers who aren't already fans of the low-budget fight scene. Gruner fans ought to definitely investigate.The story: When his significant other pays dearly for investigating an organized prison fighting circuit, the returning Dirk Longstreet (Gruner) goes undercover as an inmate to break the secret to the world…and exact revenge.As far as prison flicks go, this one is pretty tame, with minimal exploitation and even a noticeable lack of outright brutality when it comes to the brawls. The utilization of the cast is likewise a soft touch: in addition to Olivier, the lineup's comprised of B-grade butt-kickers Lorenzo Lamas, Jalal Merhi, Michael Blanks, Shaun Benjamin, and Gary Hudson, and while Lamas, Blanks, and Hudson mix it up physically, they're definitely not being used to their fullest extent. Blanks' involvement is particularly disappointing, because he's set up as a strong supporting character but ends up not doing more than fighting. The storyline is straight-forward but still has time for the occasional fruitless detour and goofiness: warden Benjamin impresses on Gruner his need to have a dominant white champion to appease the supposedly racist audience, but this never seems to be an issue, and later there's an unintentionally humorous scene wherein Gruner engages in an hours-long foot chase with the main fighter (Jim Shagen).There's a *lot* of fighting in this movie: only counting the fights that last at least ten seconds brings me to 21 separate brawls. Their quality is a major step up from the abortive scraps of the original feature, with an admirable variety of fighting styles on display, some choreographic highlights, and a satisfying scene wherein Gruner and Lorenzo Lamas team up to fight some thugs in a parking lot (it's a funny juxtaposition wherein Olivier is clearly giving his all but Lamas dispatches opponents with customary ease). Gruner looks legitimately skilled and powerful, like a UFC competitor, and faces a unique roster of opponents including a high-kicking Larnell Stovall and a whip-wielding Robert Chapin. Nevertheless, I can't point to a single encounter as an objectively great fight. Many of them are one-sided, and even moments of directorial ambitiousness are diluted by poor camera-work and editing. The film climaxes with a tournament, but it's meaningless because most of the matches are over so quickly that you hardly have enough time to distinguish between the fighters.Still, I give the cumulative package a passing score, and with the final installment to the CIRCUIT trilogy unlikely to receive a North American release, we can at least say that the west's exposure to the franchise ended on a decent note. Fight fans can easily bear it on a slow night, and fans who enjoy Olivier's work mainly for the kickboxing ought to be happy with this. Don't go out of your way for this one, but don't give it the cold shoulder, either.

Just, don't do it. This movie should come with a warning; "Contains Lorenzo Lamas, may cause herpes". I used to like Oliver Grunner, he was never a big star, never seemed destined to be one. But he was good for some fancy kicks, and ridiculous plots that gave birth to severe @$$ whoopings. After seeing this, I hate him. I already hated Lorenzo Lamas and even if you don't, even if you're one of those people that still claims "Renegade" was a good show... You won't be able to handle this. The acting is horrid, the writing is horrid, the everything is horrid. This is the kind of movie they should force people to watch as part of interrogation, though, thinking about that, I think it would be more humane to water board someone. This movie is so bad it decreased my sperm count.

Olivier Gruner stars as a kickboxer who goes undercover (Using the alias Jim Morrison) behind bars to take down the bad guys who injured his reporter girlfriend. Also on board is Lorenzo Lamas who doesn't really have much to do. Much fighting ensues in this completely botched fight flick. One of the major problems with the movie is just how ridiculously stupid it is. We have Gruner looking more like Yul Brynner trying to kick ass, completely oblivious to the fact that a fight sequence needs a director who can hold the camera steady. I must admit I watched this movie, only because I found it for one dollar and I admit that the movie had me in stitches at regular intervals. It's just too bad the movie is meant to be so serious because it was just laughable. The fight sequences are also so sloppy and indeed i'm shocked that martial arts experts choreographed this fight sequences. I mean you take a B.grade action flick like Kickboxer 2:The Road Back (Seriously comparing this to even Kickboxer 3, is just too good for a movie like this) and you have fight sequences pumped up with much blood ready to flow. Circuit 2 comes off as if the choreography was done by people who don't know the difference between martial arts and disco dancing. Some unintentional laughs aside this is very bad stuff. However it's frequently hilarious and is a must for fans of goofy cinema. Watch the ending and note that we never learn the girlfriend's fate! * out of 4-(Bad)

I live in Sweden so it was hard to get this DVD. I had to wait three months for it to come and when it finally arrived I was so exited to see it...now i feel like a fool. The movie starts great, the scene where Olivier talks to his dog is nice and the scene where he saves his student is also great, but then hell breaks loose. The girl who plays Olivier´s girlfriend must bee one of the worst actresses in this decade. She talks whit a silly english accent that more sound like if she is having a could or cotton up her nose. There are many bad scenes in the movie but instead of writing a 10 page long essay about them i would like to speak about the good stuffs...wait a minut...hmmm...cant come up whit any..ohh yeah, the dog scene was good. I like Olivier Gruner, he is one of the best B-movie actors but if he wants to keep making movies that anybody will rent then i suggest that he reads the script before he signs it.