User Reviews

I was never expecting an epic movie prior to watching "Circle of Pain", just an average, simplistic yet entertaining action movie. However, this film does not prove solid enough to provide viewers with an entertaining movie experience.

Firstly, the acting is never anything above average and the fight scenes are poorly constructed, therefore the action sequences are never more than mildly entertaining. Furthermore, all of the characters are very forgettable so, as a viewer, I never really cared about the outcome of the film (despite of the fact I expected and received little more than a collaboration of tedious clichés that dictated the direction of the mundane plot).

In addition to this, the script is incredibly cheesy and destroys any kind of seriousness or tension within the movie; it is very difficult to take this movie seriously.

Overall, if you are a HUGE fan of MMA movies and can tolerate a trashy script and substandard acting, this unoriginal, basic fight film will not be the worst piece of cinema you've spent your time to view. If you did not fit this category... Look elsewhere, perhaps at something like "Never Back Down".

I saw that Kimbo Slice was going to be in this movie so I thought I would take some time to watch it and see his acting skills, but holy cow its bad his role in the film is no more then 5 min I'm not a huge Kimbo fan but he is on the main cover. The acting is was I could not get passed in this movie and the whole good vs bad is to typical for this film. There was no surprise how this film would end. The fighting scenes are way overacted and I believe this comes from the fact that they are using real UFC fighters for this film and not actors. I gave this film 3 stars just for the fact that the plot is not clever nor is the acting good.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I AM A MMA fan and I also fight. (female fighter btw). Anyway, Mixed Martial Arts Movies are not always the best and this was one more bad movie to add to the file. However,I must confess, the action and fight scenes in the movie did have me cringing. Cringing in a good way because they were very believable and real. Its not surprising that REAL fighters were used and most did not seem to be pulling punches either. By pulling punches, I just mean, they were not stunt choreographed fight scenes where "pretend" punches and kicks were placed. Sure, some of them HAD to be faked but most...were not. That was the ONE cool thing about this movie. Besides this, the camera angles were HORRIBLE and the acting just as bad. The HD camera being used to film this wasn't so bad but the editing sucked and these things combines made the look of the film cheap and hard to watch. After about 25 mins...you really just want to turn the sad thing off! I would not pay money to rent this nor would i watch it on TV for more than the aforementioned time frame. Might be worth it if you are doing a bit of training on the side and just want to pick up some super cool street fighting moves...lol:P

Just when you thought "Undisputed 3: Electric Boogie-woogie" set an impassable bar as this year's worst MMA/fight film, along comes the magnanimous "Circle of Pain". The dialogue and acting seems like something out of the Lifetime channel (or even the probably-defunct-but-I-won't-bother-to-check Oxygen network), but with random/bizarre, super contrived graphic sex scenes sprinkled throughout. Our hero, a down on his luck ex-fighter, has been out of the game for over five years. Under the coaching tutelage of fake Brett Favre, he decides to make a comeback to fight the champ in… two months?!? P90X, eat your heart out. Dean Cain mails it in at our hero's wheelchair bound roommate. The closest thing we have to a legit acting performance in this flick comes from Kimbo "don't call me a tomato can" Slice! The fight scenes could not be any more dull, and the movie lacks even a single frame of comic relief. This is a film completely lacking in any redeeming value, save as potential fodder for an MST3K revival.

I was allowed to screen this, and I don't consider that a privilege.

This movie is as bad as fighting movies comes; yes, even worse than Dead or Alive.

Standard plot. A righteous hero with personal problems, who is forced to fight and must regain all his past skills by training and fighting scrubs before stepping into the ring against the evil guy at the end. Of course his trainers are his best friend and an old dude.

Horrible acting. The actors and lines are better in most soaps. It's hard to say if it's the script or the actors, since both is really really bad. Horrible writing combined with terrible actors doesn't exactly create Oscar winning dialog.

Towards the end, we get some soft-core pornography without any context at all. Normally a sex scene adds to the plot or story of the film or its characters. These just seem like they were forced in there because fans of action movies expect it or because the producers had to fill in some blank tape ("hey we got 10 minutes to fill, why don't you fool around a bit and we put it in somewhere?").

The fighting? I didn't care much for it, but then again, I'm not a martial arts fan. With characters this badly written and actors not doing a great job, I lost most interest in whoever would win the various fights, and a small bit of me hoped that they would all loose. That would at least give the movie a moral of fighting being uncool.

It gets two stars since I remember having seen a worse movie - I just can't remember which. As entertaining as getting drop kicked.

I'm not really much of a Mixed Martial Arts fan to tell the truth. I watch professional wrestling (a man deserves his guilty pleasures, okay?) and I had a passing interest in Mixed Martial Arts in my teen years, but that's it. So I'm not really aware of "Tapout" or whatever it is, other than the fact that 1.) I see guys wearing "Tapout"shirts in town (and I've seen them in Wal Mart) and 2.) That they've released several Straight to DVD movies via Lionsgate, those purveyors of bad exploitation trash on DVD. So It was only a matter of time until I watched one of these movies, and I decided to go with "Circle of Pain", which while better than other "Tapout Presents..." ventures, is still a terrible movie.

Dalton Hunt (Tony Schiena) is a retired fighter whose been living a quiet life. Thing is, Colin "The Brick" Wahle (Heath Herring) is about to beat his record. So thanks to his pal Wyatt (Dean "I was Superman and now I can't get a role worth a damn" Cain) that he put in a wheelchair and the villainous director of a MMA company named Victoria Rualan (Bai Ling) telling him he has to, Dalton must come out of retirement to battle Wahle.

One of the things that's really noteworthy about "Circle of Pain" (and other "Tapout Presents..." movies") is how cheap the whole thing looks. The production values aren't exactly shot on video bad, but they essentially resemble those of a soft core skin flick. Also notable is that like it's predecessors, the movie suddenly becomes something of a soft core flick, with sex scenes thrown in for no reason whatsoever other than to pad out time. Apart from that, little if anything stands out in this movie, which is amateurishly directed by Daniel Zirilli, features few if any invigorating fight or action scenes, and is guilty of false advertising (the movie advertises Kimbo Slice as the star, but he's only in the film for two scenes.) Also, the acting is (as expected) terrible. Look, people pay to watch these guys beat the tar out of each other, not for their acting skills (though Herring at least seems to be having fun.) Dean Cain (who must curse the name of Terri Hatcher every day of his life) in particular is bad, seeming to be bored and uninterested as if he's only doing this for the paycheck. Hell, the only reason this isn't getting a 0/10 is because of Bai Ling. An underrated actress (with credits including "The Crow", "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and "The Beautiful Country"), she seems to know what kind of movie this is, and plays the villain to a hammy T, delivering the only fun performance in the movie.

As a whole, there is not reason whatsoever to watch "Circle of Pain", which doesn't feel like something made for MMA fans as much as it feels like a cheap cash grab. I do wish that Tapout and Lionsgate would stop releasing these movies, but it's obviously not going to happen anytime soon.

Some major errors in this copycat plot. the biggest being the plaster cast on the guys broken right arm or is it left arm.. I guess they couldn't remember. This movie deserves a huge rant but at the same time does not deserve the effort, if a little more effort went into the movie then it would deserve more of a rant! Feel really sorry for dean Caine in this and although he does OK Every scene in this movie is a rip off of something better. Writers completely lacked imagination Could almost be in the comedy genre There are so many better things to do with 85 minutes of your life. This movie is not recommended and should be avoided. This is a Truly predictable and dire effort by all.

I feel dumber since seeing this movie ! I like Vinnie Jones and have enjoyed many of his movies but this is like finding money then realising its fake. It hurt my feelings to watch this its dumbing down gone mad !

it was like bathing in acid with open sores, I almost died watching this movie. im not even sure it was made for DVD or for TV it seemed like it started finished and said nothing ! I watched the whole thing and struggled to find a plot !

I beg you not to watch it ! no imagination no writing ability no acting skills

AWFUL

This movie is so horrible, it's not even so-bad-it's-funny. It's just painful and awkward. You got a hot guy with a six pack and personal problems, training with an unconventional old man in time to beat the champion and win back his wife and kid. The script, acting, and camera work is all so amateur, like it was made by some over-ambitious high school kids. There's random sex scenes with no point, meaning, or explanation. More like porn breaks than anything. Even the fighting is fakey and too obviously choreographed hit by hit. Don't bother wasting 90 minutes of your life on this worthless crap. Unless you're a 12 year old boy looking for a quick free porno and 'fighting.'

Tony Schiena is back! In one of the most adrenaline fueled films of 2010 (don't worry if you missed it first time, you can watch it now and it's still just as much of a white knuckle ride!) Coming from the same stable as 'Number one girl' you can already be assured of the immense quality that this film brings to television sets globally, straight to DVD!!

Dolton (Scheina) is a retired cage fighter who has sworn never to fight again due to the crippling of his friend Wyatt/Dwyatt/Whydwat (Cain) during a sparring match that gets a little out of hand. In his absence from competing, he has been replaced by Colin 'The Brick' Wahle, an undefeated fighter who comes across as a bit of a c*nt. Dolton is soon dragged back to the cage to compete against Mr. Brick amidst threats of blackmail from the films super-bitch-nut-case; Victoria Rualan (Ling).

Once again, we have a very generic attempt at a film that's desperately trying to ride in on the back of the mixed martial arts craze and unfortunately, does nothing but embarrass the sport. The athletes who took part in this film should be absolutely ashamed.

Appalling story lines and terrible soundtracks aside, probably the most frustrating thing about this entire film is the continued employment of Tony Schiena, he's kind of like how Daniel Day Lewis or Heath Ledger would be if both were ugly c*nts and had no acting ability. The highlight of his performance would have to be the part when he injures his friend and someone in the background shouts "call an ambulance" and Scheina replies "An ambulance!" It's nothing short of hilarious.

In summary, this film is most certainly not worth watching. Really, its best appreciated by a group of friends who want nothing more than to laugh at Tony Scheina doing his best impression of a plank of wood with Jimcarey like martial arts skills and the awkward soft porn which dominates throughout.

Also, is this film is sponsored by Tapout? Really? I would never have guessed.

This film looks like it was filmed and written in a day. Ridiculous 'action' scenes, dialogue that must have been written by a 10 year old, truly awful music that didn't fit any scene and 'acting' that defies belief. When Dean Cain is head and shoulders the best actor in it you know you have reached the bottom of the lowest barrel. And even this is his worst performance by some margin.

It begs the question who is this film aimed at? My kids sort of liked it but they are way below the 15 age rating, so if that is the target audience why the nudity and bad language? I fail to believe that anyone with half a brain over the age of 13 would enjoy this joke of a film.

Without doubt this in the top 5 most pathetic movies I have ever watched, if not the most pathetic. Not one redeeming feature could be found except mercy of mercies it is a short film and for that I was truly truly grateful.

I usually like martial arts movies. This one is a pretty mainstream martial arts movie. The story is a mainstream and predictable one.

Simple as the most of the martial arts movies you can find nowadays. The acting is OK and the fighting scenes are pretty good. Main character and the opponent is good.

There are little too explicit scenes but kind of what you see in most of the nowadays movies.

Overall enjoyable. Works specially if you are a mainstream fight movies fan.

Nowadays you will find better fighting movies. But this does the trick.