Ultimate Dolph

Haven't seen "The Condemned" (didn't even know it existed)... but for me, just like Bill Goldberg (Universal Soldier: The Return), John Cena (The Marine), The Rock and others who tried to break through the "muscled" action genre, this "Stone Cold Steve Austin" (?!) just looks like another brute who lacks what Stallone, Arnold, Dolph and the old gang had or still have: personality and CLASS.

I don't know the others but I think The Rock is pretty good. Liked him in The Scorpion King and The Rundown.

THE CONDEMNED isn't very good. It's not really Stone Cold's fault. The film just spends way more time on the people who assemble the criminals to kill each other than on the actual criminals themselves. In the right film, I could see Austin and Cena doing better but if they plan on doing anymore films for the WWE then that's not going to happen.

The Rock definitely showed some Arnold-like charm in THE RUNDOWN (I still dig seeing Arnold in the beginning). But now that THE GAME PLAN has been such a hit for him you can expect to see him in more dopey comedies and less action films.

At least Statham is still out there keeping the action torch alive.

I dont know about Statham - he was v promising in The Transporter 1 & 2, & Crank - (and I loved Lock Stock & Snatch) BUT (and I hate to say this as I love Jet Li) WAR........... WAS PANTS!!!!

WAR was awful, no two ways about it. But it's not enough for me to throw in the towel in regards to Statham or for that matter Jet Li.

He's got DEATH RACE coming in '08. That might be good but there's no way it'll have the black humor of the original with Sly and David Carradine. He also has CRANK 2 on the horizon which I'm looking forward to since it will be done by the same directors, and not just a cheap DTV cash-in sequel.

Hold on - I know the blink at the end of Crank was meant to mean something but he cant still be alive!!

And I would never give up on Jet Li, what with Warlords comming and the Forbidden Kingdom coming in 08

Not to sure about Death Race!

Geoff wrote:Hold on - I know the blink at the end of Crank was meant to mean something but he cant still be alive!!

The writers/directors said that they'd come up with a good explanation. Can't remember where I read that.

Oh I cant wait for that then.......

I have The Condemned on DVD. I bought it the first week it came out because I loved The Marine with John Cena. Fantastic action trash..and I mean TRASH!! The Condemned was a little more serious, quite sadistic sometimes and the plot line was good and surprisingly the concept was well explored. Austin didn't show much charisma but he was passable, bad-ass and you wanted him to triumph. Basically he's just another muscle-man wrestler but I enjoyed the flick and he was a good action hero. Check it out..probably rent it first though!!

Check out the Trailer for Steve Austin`s new flick DAMAGE. Looks pretty good to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STskOfMRo0M

Damage looks pretty damn awesome and very intriguing, but I think The Condemned sucked bigtime. Once ANY action started, the DP started shaking the camera left and right. If I didn't know any better, I would've figured they were just making out.

Damage at least looks pretty hard core. I hope it's Austins intention to keep making brutal action movies. We need that.

The trailer is sht, though. No structure, slow middle-of-the-road rock song, barely any conflict set up. Terrible.

Jack Caine wrote:Once ANY action started, the DP started shaking the camera left and right. If I didn't know any better, I would've figured they were just making out.

It's incedrible to me that moviemakers still go for that style. It's so disappointing to watch.

dolphage wrote:

Jack Caine wrote:Once ANY action started, the DP started shaking the camera left and right. If I didn't know any better, I would've figured they were just making out.

It's incedrible to me that moviemakers still go for that style. It's so disappointing to watch.

Yeah...I don't like that style also, I mean...it can be OK, when they don't over do it with it..but IMO, The Condemned was OK, cameras work was not that bad...at least I cant remember that I saw a loot of shaky camera in that one.

But The Bourne Ultimatum that everybody liked so much...well, IMO, that was disaster...over the top shaky camera, to fast editing, to short shoots...I basically could not see what is happening on the screen, and who is hitting who and where!!

The first time I watched Bourne Ultimatum and The Condemned, I had to take an aspirin for both movies. I watched Ultimatum a second time though and I was able to follow the action at last, which is still alittle too shaky. Paul Greengrass is obsessed with that crap. Pierre Morel (Taken) at least knows how to maintain shaky action the correct way by making sure the audience can still tell what the f**k is going on.

Are there really people from the audience (not the producers or the industry) out there who like the Bourne style? I've heard (and written) only complaints and "Bourne style cuts" are usually meant as a criterion for a bad movie.

Hate that shaky stuff, too. You can't see anything. I wonder why they bother to do fight choreography and then ruin it on purpose.