Review of Pit Fighter (2005) by Jane V — 09 Aug 2016

I honestly don't know where to start with this one. It took me two.

Tries to get through it, as the first 20 minutes nearly put me to sleep.

(on second thought, maybe I should watch these so late at night...).

Whatever, in any case the filmmakers seemed to have a few things they.

Wanted to say with PIT FIGHTER, but much of the "message" (if one can.

Call it that) is blunted by not really explaining anything and massive.

Imbalance in the narrative threads that would have fleshed out exactly.

What we were supposed to divine from this poorly edited mess of an.

Action film. It's also bookended by a couple of Bible quotes that have.

Something to do with the scenes they immediately precede/follow, but.

Little else (in my estimation).

The basic plot is that a mysterious man who nearly died in a shootout.

And has memory loss gets taken under the wing of a low level criminal.

In the Mexican mafia (Steven Bauer, SCARFACE). He discovers/remembers a.

Talent for fighting, and so he starts participating in underground.

Kickboxing matches for money. All the while he has memories of a woman.

He loved and thought dead, but things change when he sees her one night.

After a fight.

As messy and cheap as the film is, it's not all for nothing. There is a.

Decent amount of kickboxing action, and brutal action at that. There.

Was one scene with a guy's eyeball hanging out of his skull, which was.

Kind of cool. I also thought that the overall pacing of the fight.

Sequences was adequate so that the overly ponderous narrative never got.

Too much to take. The best action scene is probably the final shootout.

Between the titular "fighter" and what I'm guessing was the Mexican.

Mafia. You get to see him mow through all of these guys, often using.

Their own weapons against them, and then resorting to a sword that he.

Brought with him. The gunplay and sword-fighting was a nice changeup.

From the brawling that came before it.

Where the film misses is about everywhere else. They tried to make the.

Main character, Jack (as we learn late into the film), into some.

Religious nut. He allows opponents to "show off" by beating him up.

Before knocking them out. He donates his winnings to a local priest.

(from Ireland? The ethnic makeup of the cast was head-scratching at.

Times. Was everyone except the mafia an immigrant or living there.

Temporarily?). He also has visions of the Virgin Mary that aren't.

Explained (except kind of at the end where the actual person he's been.

Seeing is named). It was all rather weird, and the last minute.

Revelations/memories he has about his forgotten past smacked of.

Narrative convenience, i.e., to add an extra wrinkle to the final.

Conflict.

Another issue is the major subplot regarding Jack's girlfriend(?).

Marianne, who turns out to be some university.

Professor-turned-revolutionary stealing from the mafia in order to fund.

Antigovernment rebels (or something like that). The story of an.

Amnesiac who remembers his past and then confronts it would have been.

Sufficient, in my opinion. But, I guess the filmmakers thought since it.

Was set in a Central American country they might as well throw in some.

Half-baked subplot about the very real political and social turmoil in.

The region...without any nuance, of course.

As for the other elements, the acting was generally poor. The best.

Actor was Steven Bauer (of SCARFACE fame), but even it seemed like he.

Was phoning it in. The oddest of the cast had to have been the "doctor".

Who patches Jack up at the beginning. He had these weird mannerisms and.

Speech pattern that was really off-putting. It also didn't help that.

His dialogue didn't seem based in reality (I know the filmmakers.

Weren't medical experts, but come on, they could have researched a.

Little bit). The cinematography was decent for a low-budget movie, with.

The occasional shot that looked like it could be part of a TV.

Documentary, but the washed-out look was kind of depressing and just.

Emphasized how cheap-looking everything was. Camera-work was OK, I.

Guess, but nothing special.

Overall, I would say that only those with the lowest of standards would.

Possibly get any enjoyment out of this. It had the potential to be.

Laughably bad, but the tone and look would make it hard to have fun.

With a drinking game, were someone inclined to make one out of this.

Basically, this wasn't worth my time and it probably won't be worth.

Yours either.