In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I rented this movie because I was sick, and figured it was a mindless waste of time and it would keep me occupied without too much mental or emotional stress. I was right. But right when I was asking myself what type of people out there gave this kind of movie an audience ( I am often in existential crisis ) the script slapped me with surprise. It actually gave a very clear message that you're basically a jerk for liking to entertain yourself with gratuitous violence. Then it also killed off all the people in the film who cashed in and laughed at death , showed them what violence really was , well, sort of. I mean essentially the movie is making money off of violence and death and really awful things in real life. Movies and entertainment like this are sort of anesthesisizing the public to hardcore reality. But it knew that, and it made that concept and those people the truly bad ones .. which was an interesting shift in perspective although I can't give it too much credit because essentially it's still cashing in on the same genre .. While I was watching this though I realized that all the people I hate , and that I spend way too much time wondering how they exist in the world , how they don't care about anything of value or have any kind of morality or concept of the abstract and emotional depth, people that sit around and watch movies and cheer for the hero, and yet live like villains. People that have no idea that they are the villains in real life. That they lie, they hurt people, they cheat people. They burn people. They kill people. They rape or molest people. Whatever .. these people ,how do they exist? And not know what they are? How they can be so blind to themselves when there is so much information out there ?? I decided these types of people much watch these mindless movies . So on that level it comforted me. That all those gung ho violent types watching this movie, at the end, the jokes on them. And whoops, maybe it will make them question something more than they are used to. Baby steps Hollywood , baby steps, and I'm all about it. This movie had a conscious. That's amazing for the type of movie it was. It might be too smart though for all the people who need to actually get that message .. but nice try anyways. The script had me laughing out loud too. In a few parts. In a good way. I think this type of movie for what it was was excellent. Probably the one movie like this you could let your teens watch. Because of the message at the end. Which was - violence and the people who cash in on it, the people who use it as entertainment are evil, stupid and deserve to die. Haha.

if you are looking for a hearth touching movie , this one if not for you. If you are looking for a badass , asskicking movie with a lot of action this is perfect for you as simple as that you will not think a lot after the movie ends but you will leave with a smile on your face and maybe you want to kick some ass but thats fine. really sad this movie its not well know cause it brings it and have some really cool stuff , fighting ,shooting , explosions , maybe its not the best action movie you'll ever see but is one you will NOT regret to see or feel like you wasted your time

The Condemned starts as ten hardened condemned to execution on death row prison inmates from around the world are flown by helicopter to an isolated & remote island in the Pacific, they have been 'brought' by ambitious television producer Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone) who is planning to stage a live reality internet broadcast called The Condemned. The aim of the show is simple, the ten condemned inmates are dropped off on the island & the one still alive after thirty hours gains their freedom but only one can walk away, with plastic explosive strapped to their ankles the inmates have no choice but to play. Wrongly imprisoned ex secret service ops Jack Conrad (Steve Austin) is brought in as a last minute replacement from a prison in El Salvador & starts to turn the game against Brecknel in a bid for freedom & revenge...Co-written & directed by Scott Wiper this modern take on the basic premise of The Most Dangerous Game (1932) is actually a pretty decent film, I would struggle to call it a great film but it is good solid action fare that also tries to have a strong moral message which is both an asset & a hindrance but more on that later. The Condemned updates the theme of a lone man being hunted with the odds stacked against him by setting the events up as part of an elaborate internet based reality show where subscribers pay to see hardened inmates kill & abuse each other, the mixing of the survivalist genre & reality show works surprisingly well here although surely the whole affair is illegal & every Government in the world would be after Brecknel. Most of the condemned inmates don't have much depth apart from Conrad & McStarley with the other's simply being cannon fodder to increase the body count & provide a fight every few minutes, the script tries to make out that Brecknel the producer is the real villain for his brutal exploitation & staging of events. Now, the script does try to make the point that watching violence is bad which seems a bit hypocritical & there are a few speeches denouncing & questioning the show & scenes of people cheering on the action that reinforce this message but feel out of place & stand out uncomfortably in a film which obviously wants to appeal to that very audience, the type of audience that enjoy wrestling & Steve Austin is surely the type of audience that would lap a show like The Condemned up if it ever became a reality as wrestling is surely nothing more than grown men beating each other up & while it stops short of people getting killed I think you can see the point I am making. Or then again maybe The Condemned is really just an anti reality television show film, now that's an idea I can relate too...At almost two hours long The Condemned runs at a decent pace & never really lags or becomes boring, I would maybe have liked to see a bit more varied action though. The fights are brutal & weapons are introduced later on which adds some spice but other than an exploding helicopter there's nothing else over the fights. There's an implied rape, some blood splatter & a guy is impaled on a wooden stake after being thrown out of a helicopter. At the end when Brecknel is in the helicopter why did it just hover there? Why not fly off into the distance? Why wait for Steve Austin to thrown a bomb on-board (that was a bloody good shot by the way wasn't it?)? The final confrontation between Austin & Vinnie Jones is also a bit underwhelming & isn't so much a brutal fight to the death confrontation as a very harsh conversation. While the quick machine gun editing of recent action films is absent the jerky hand-held nature of some fights aren't & The Condemned sometimes becomes a blurred mess which is a shame as the fights do look good otherwise.With an opening box-office weekend of just over $3,000,000 I think it's safe to say that The Condemned was a flop, although set on some remote island The Condemned was actually shot in Australia & does look quite nice at times. The acting is alright, Vinnie Jones is amusing & gets some nice one-liners although wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin is just very wooden & lacks any charisma or personality, no-one else stands out that much to be honest.The Condemned is better than average action fare with a solid plot that steals from a classic & adds a modern twist quite effectively but the overriding message that watching violence is bad & those who make, distribute & profit from it are also evil is a paradox in the sense anyone who enjoys The Condemned is bad & the makers who made it are evil themselves. Work that one out.

The Condemned is an action film that sounds good in the concept but I've noticed one too many similarities to Battle Royale. Ten prisoners on death row are gathered together by some TV producer to participate in the game, on a remote island, with the goal to kill each other within a limited time. To further force the criminals to participate, explosive collars have been placed around their ankles which can be detonated at will. Sound familiar. Battle Royale follows a very similar storyline but with Japanese students instead of criminals. This was likely changed to adult criminals to avoid major controversy in the USA.The Condemned can be a fun action film if you turn your brain off for a while, with some decent fighting scenes but that's about it. The characters are pretty bland save perhaps the Japanese guy and Vinnie Jones when he's funny, and the music was pretty shoddy save Savin' Me by Nickelback. Pardon me for comparing is much to BR but it felt like it was a cheap attempt to remake the film whilst trying to sneak it past the American censors.