I have just watched this film on my PC. There are some good fight scenes but the rest of the film let it down. I was waiting for something good to happen in the story and it didn't.
However as fight scenes go, this film did have some pretty good ones and there were no wires fights in sight - not that I don't think they work well in films like The Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill etc.
Well, I don't agree that the fight scenes in this movie are particularly good (even if the hype says they are). Few, if any, real fighters stand passively, and let themselves be hit or kicked repeatedly, like the fighters in this film. A good fight scene should show the movements of real fighters, and how they avoid being hit, instead of focusing on stupid head-on hits with childish 70ies/80ies sound effects thrown in for good measure... I was very disappointed with many of these scenes. Sorry!
shareNo one stood passively and let themself be hit. I know the parts you're referring to, but those were quick strikes in succession. It's not like anyone stood like an invincible statue and laughed while blows glanced off of them.
I don't think they were going for the slick, unrealistic martial arts movie look for these fights where for every attack there is a perry. I'm not saying this movie was 100% realistic, but it's no cartoony Van Damme flick when it comes to the fight scenes. If you watch real shoot fighting, K-1, UFC, or have had the regretable experience of being in a fight, then you'll be able to draw obvious comparisions. The added acrobatics and dramatics are there, well, because this is after all, a movie. If you don't add "whooooPSSSHH" syle sound effects it's just going to come off as a home movie.
In my opinion (and I'm right, so let's just assume it's a fact), the fight scenes were a refreshing break from wire work and punch-block-kick-block-punch-block, etc.
Where this movie DOES fail is in the story and ridiculous gun fight at the end. It was like someone took a bit of Rambo First Blood Part II, Desperado, and one of the lesser John Woo movies, put them in a jar and shook 'em up, then dumped it out onto my screem. Not cool.
Once more, I'm right.
the moon rulz #1
Well, my friend, I have watched a lot of real fighting (especially MT, K1 and boxing), and I have also boxed actively for many years. And believe me, NO real fighters behave like they do in the Pit Fighter; letting down their guards, standing squarely on both their feet absorbing blow-by-blow-by-blow (even I, with my beat-up old boxer brain can see many of those blows coming with a second class post stamp on them...). The first thing You learn as a fighter is "to protect yourself at all times" - this is basic, and few of the fighters in the Pit Fighter has any defence at all. So, I'm sorry Felix - You might be a decent dj, but You're sure no fight aficionado. To negate old Will Wanders' description of mr Perfect, Ernesto Hoost - Felix, You're no legend in Your own Lunchtime!
shareYou must have missed the part about me being right.
I'll paraphrase myself:
"I'm right"
There.
the moon rulz #1
Well, with all respect to the both of you.
I think you both missed the point of the film.
The Fights are great, but they are not what this story is about.
If you saw the region 2 dvd version of this film, you saw the same one I did.
And the film is about a violent man redeeming himself, by whatever means possible.
He's was a very violent man, so he must pay in a very big way.
I loved the film!
However, I hate cheaply made martial arts/action movies, so maybe I am not the intended audience.
For me the strength of this movie was in the scenes between the fights.
It's quite cerebral, and if you're looking for American Ninja IV, go elsewhere.
No offense intended, just a personal opinion, on an open forum.
PS. I wasted away time with this movie for five viewing sessions after buying it. Much more fun than Eastenders, although I think Scott Adkins may have been in Eastenders as well as this.
I've seen American Ninja IV actually.
I thought I was the only one.
Anyway, I don't think Pit Fighter was cerebral at all. I think a monkey could make that movie given half a chance and a few thousand dollars. However, a monkey can sling crap pretty far too.
I understand what they were trying to do, and it could have worked if they were more adept at telling the story. His character, trying to redeem himself when he finally confronts his own actions and way of life, just didn't convince me.
My previous post focused on the fights, but I understand what you mean when you say they're not what the movie is about. Oddly enough, I feel they were the strongest part of this clunker.
It was great seeing Steven Bauer working though. His last scene was alright.
Thanks for the input.. see ya 'round.
the moon rulz #1
I will be renting the next film from these monkeys as I really enjoyed watching them sling their crap!
I really liked watching Steven Bauer in this film, too, and his last scene is quite owerful.
I still like the assasination stuff over the fights, maybe I'm reading more into it, than it deserves, but, a lead character tortured by a mispent past, who takes on a whole town of gunmen, and then gets shot to pieces to save the people he screwed with years earlier.
Cerebral, that's debatable and a matter of opinion, interesting? Absolutely!
Not your average low budget actioneer, positively.
I've got the itch to go watch American Ninja 4 now... thanks.
All I need is an ample supply of booze, and a couple friends to help me throw stuff at the screen.
the moon rulz #1
I've got to say that the way this thread has gone makes me want to see the movie had I not seen it already. There is talent in the movie far beyond any monkey comment - The Director and Cinematographer. I agree that the fights weren't the strong point nor was the acting however I did like the style. This Director made me watch the movie and the DP made me enjoy the look of it. I enjoyed the movie and I'm going back to watch it again.
share"Few, if any, real fighters stand passively, and let themselves be hit or kicked repeatedly, like the fighters in this film."
Jake LaMotta, Mohammed Ali.
O.K., I'm done being a smart ass.
The fight scenes are not realistic but they were fun. I could have walked away from it thinking I had just had a fun, empty experience, if not for the ending.
It turned into Rambo as directed by Sam Peckinpah. Not the Peckinpah that directed The Wild Bunch but the one who did Killer Elite. Everything I enjoyed about the film was soon forgotten.
There just seems to be a fundemental difference of opinion with regard to story here.
The ending was superb for me, in execution it matched the rest of the film, gritty, read this as cheap, perhaps, but with an honesty of theme that overcame the limited resources.
It was not about the shoot-out, so much as the out-come at the end of the shoot-out. This meant far more to me, than the fact, there was a lot of shooting and dying.
I admit that I love the old samurai films, and am a of the type of film where the lead character doesn't make it through to the end titles, but when I watch a film with a crowd who cheer a particular sequence and then I read negative comments I feel compelled to add my opinion.
I also enjoyed the "Killer Elite" admittedly it is not as good as "The Wild Bunch" -- but if there is anyone out there making films that come close to this level of niche entertainment, I think they should be applauded.
Call me a luddite, but there are precious few individual voices in the action genre.
I disagree completely, not only was this film not a let down, but it was a revelation for me! This is a very violent film that, betraying it's on screen blood letting, is aiming for a line of screen poetry that I haven't experienced in a small movie in years. There are choices to be made I imagine, when you decide to make a film like this. Pit Fighter, has it's requisite violence, it's nudity, it's sheer savagery, but what elevated this film above the average for me, was it's driving force, the characters; their motivations are all human and conflicted, no one is all good or all bad. Money and power are important, but morality and redemption are worth dying for.
Jack, the title character, the Pit Fighter, when faced with the recollection of what he was, and what he did to people, decides the only way to atone for his sins is to kill himself, but what a way to go, he takes on the whole town. There have been some scathing reviews of this final scene, but it is what it is. The brutal and over the top end to a scrappy film, that really could not have ended any other way. This film is only available in Thailand in full frame, but I am looking forward to the 20th Century Fox widescreen release. This film represents a lot more than a way to waste time, it is a solid and articulate film.
You guys are hilarious. him standing there taking punches and the way the fights were put together had nothing to do with potraying reall fighting. It was sort of a open window so the we could see where his morals and vcalues were. that way we could see more clearly the dramatic changes in his personality from pre-amnesia to post-anmesia. I know you guys were looking at the movie but did you bother to watch it??
shareI kinda have mixed feelings. The ending did remind me of Sam Peckinpah a bit, especially Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Which was also about a man seeking redemption.
However, what didnt make much sense to me, was Jack respects his opponents in the ring. By letting them get their licks in, but then he beats them nearly to death by snapping limbs and punching someone until the eyeball fell out of the socket?
Loki is playing tricks again
haha besides the eye part this movie was complete doodoo. It was like a van damme movie to the xxxtreme. ooooh
sharei agree, unrealistic fight scenes and a utterly bs ending.. 3/10
i was waiting for him to take his belt off and kill another 50 people, while those 50 people are shooting at him with automatic weapons..
crappy.