Combate mortal

There is little original in the story line. Picture Death Race or Gamer with the protagonist fighting to the death every week instead of racing a car or in a fps mock up with real people. Furthermore, if any of the social commentary on where our society is headed based on the viewer's ever growing appetite for realism and violence is meant to be novel, it barely registers with this viewer. However, adding Samuel Jackson as the puppet master for these spectacles certainly makes even a retread seem re-energized.   Kellan Lutz gives a solid enough performance as the sympathetic protagonist finding himself in the do or die scenario and Johnny Messner is a more than adequate secondary villain. Mixed with some eye candy and an arc (with a nice twist) that creates sufficient  anticipation as to how it's all going to end results in an above average viewing experience.

If you're craving a lot gladiatorial gore with a side order of nude babes, this one suits those baser parts of your nature. Samuel L. Jackson overacts as the villain (not nearly so amusingly evil as in The Kingsmen) to offset the degree to which Kellan Lutz underplays his heroics. The plot is pure paint-by-numbers.

And now for the exception. At about 25 minutes, there's a quick, flawlessly executed Easter egg nod to a much better film, Office Space. Fans of that one will love that brief flash of wit that's nowhere to be found in the rest of the script.

I have never written a review about a movie before, but this movie is so terrible (yes "is", I am 1h10 mins into the movie), I felt compelled to write a review, since I regularly check film ratings on this site before watching them. I only regret the fact that I never check this one before hand, I guess the fact that Samuel L starred in it, kind of through me off, but that will never happen again. Everything about the movie is poor, story-line, plot, acting, it is so boring it is unbelievable. Just a bunch of useless violence. Yes Samuel is a great actor and has done such great movies, and after watching "pulp fiction" again a few weeks back, I am so disappointed that he accepted to star in this movie.

EDIT: Forgot to include the bad movie rating, Every actors in the movie should have a star taken off a previously made one for accepting to take part in this useless piece of garbage.

Totally USELESS

"What's the one thing we all have in common?...Death." After a tragic accident leaves his wife dead, David (Lutz) is picked to take part in a "game". This game involves two men fighting to the death. When David agrees to do it in exchange for his freedom, the creator (Jackson) has other plans. My theory of movies lately are that there are no original ideas anymore. Recently it seems like it's either a remake, sequel, comic book or a rehash of a movie that has been done. Counting this movie, 13 and Freerunner there are now 4 movies released recently that steal from "Death Race". While I did see the others first it may have skewed my judgment but this was much slower then I was expecting. The plot is...take a guy with no family, force him to fight and kill for his freedom while the evil creator watches. Very predictable and is really only worth watching for the fighting and nudity. On the other hand, why else would you watch this anyway? Overall, not a bad movie, but the plot is starting to get old and over used. That makes it lose the excitement and impact. Because of un-originality I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - Not this one...but again I'm sure next month another version will come out.

*Also try - Gamer & Death Race 1 & 2

Very graphic, bloody and violent... and that's just how I like my films.

To those that hated this movie because they don't like displays of graphic violence... Why would you even start to watch something that clearly states in the synopsis "men fight to the death for the entertainment of the online masses."

*Shakes head* I don't know.... But if you like your films violent and bloody you will love this!

If you don't like violent movies definitely give this one a miss.

Also, I thought Kellan Lutz (known for The Twilight Saga) did a great job as the main character, and gave it his all.

And I officially have a new crush after watching Katia Winter in this, who actually gets naked in this... Wow!!