MovieChat Forums > The Condemned (2007) Discussion > How could they have thought this was fit...

How could they have thought this was fit for a threatrical release?

posted 9 years ago by aloep
2 replies | jump to latest

It's absolutely baffling that a film like this could be given a theatrical release in 2007.

It's difficult to find a film that has direct to video written all over it more than this one. Not only has the premise has been done to death many times before, but the cast is totally lacking in any star power. I know Steve Austin was once the biggest star in the WWE (actually, it was called WWF back then but never mind), but that was about 10 years earlier and he hadn't been relevant for years when this was released in 2007. And Vinnie Jones?!?!? Please! He is one of the most prolific B-movie supporting actors around and he can't be getting paid more than $20k per film for a lot of the dreck he appears in.

I wasn't surprised to learn that this film received *massive* financial losses at the box office both in the US and abroad. But how could they have been so far off the mark? Surely someone involved must have realised that a generic action film in 2007 with Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones headlining it couldn't be anything other than box office poision?

[–] RequiredFields 9 years ago

I actually liked the movie, but you make some good points.

If it had someone like John Cena, a more relevant wrestler at the time, I could see it (plus, this was a better movie than The Marine and 12 Rounds for sure). But yeah, it does have more of a straight to video feel than a movie theater feel.

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[–] ustayherepenny 8 years ago

While I agree to an extent about the theatrical release issue, Vinnies career was in a much better place at the time than it is now, he was never gonna star opposite Meryl Streep but films like gone in sixty seconds and swordfish were the level he was playing at.
As for Steve Austin I've never watched wrestling but he did a decent job here, it's a really good film in my opinion, kind of like the 80's actioners I grew up with.