Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)

Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)

 

Starring: Scott Adkins, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Marko Zaror, Mark Ivanir, Robert Costanzo, Lateef Crowder
Director: Isaac Florentine
Action Director: Larnell Stovall

 

Whenever you make a movie, there’s always the off chance that the most popular character of the film will be not the main hero, but one of his supporting characters, perhaps even the villain. That makes things a little difficult, because people are going to want to see that character again, even if the story arc presents no reason for the hero to interact with him/her once more without the most convoluted of contrivances. There’s always the spin-off, much like how the “guest” villain Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns ended up getting his own series, where he played, well, a hero.  And just for the heck of it, don’t you just love how those Scorpion King movies can be described as “Sequels to spin-offs of the sequel to a remake”?

Something like the situation above happened with Undisputed 2. Michael Jai White’s character, a boxer, completed his character arc as he walked off into the sunset (so to speak) after besting Boyka in personal combat and getting released from the Russian prison. But people liked Boyka, as played by Scott Adkins. The role was an excellent showcase for Adkins’ dazzling martial arts and acrobatic abilities and genre fans wanted more of him. Obviously, they couldn’t really bring back Michael Jai White’s character for a rematch—by this point, I don’t think George Chambers will be able to read the name Tchaikovsky without shuttering, let alone take a plan back to Russia.

The easiest way around it would be to jettison the George Chambers story and focus on the Undisputed films on Boyka instead. Of course, that presents another problem. Boyka was the villain, plain and simple. How do you turn a villain into a hero without making him lose those personality traits that made him compelling in the first place? Most hack writers would shoot for the “tragic backstory”, “the child or lover he never talked about” or the “gradual softening of the heart after sharing a cell with a frail new inmate” in order to make him a likable (anti)hero. Thankfully, Isaac Florentine and his people make sure to keep Boyka largely the same, with the “redemption” aspect of the title focusing less on his humanity, and more on his quest to be the greatest fighter. 

Long story short, since his ignominious defeat at the hands of George Chambers, Boyka has isolated himself at the prison, spending his days mopping the dankest and foulest corners of the joint to pass the time. Meanwhile, fight promotor Gaga (a returning Mark Ivanir) is grooming another inmate, Sykov (Esteban Cueto, of Collateral Damage and The Scorpion King), to be the prison’s representative for a  huge tournament between inmates of different countries, which is to be held at a prison in Georgia (the country, not the state). Boyka wants to take part, and ultimately bests Sykov in a fight for the position.

Boyka is transferred to the prison outside of Tbilisi, where he meets the other fighters, including a loud-mouthed boxer-type from America named Turbo (character actor Mykel Shannon Jenkins) and the top fighter of the Georgian prison, a towering Colombian psycho-fighter named “Dolor” (Chilean bootmaster Marko Zaror, of Kiltro and Mandrill). Hindering Boyka on his quest for the best is not only his bad knee, but the fact that the Georgian prison officials are doing everything to stack the odds in Dolor’s favor, including limiting their training time, forcing them to do manual labor, and even distributing random beatings where they see fit.

My major qualm with this film is the dialog. There are far too many F-bombs in this movie and it gets annoying pretty quick. I don’t consider myself a prude, but having the characters curse like sailors at the slight provocation seems more like filler and desperation on the writers’ part, rather than an attempt to “sound realistic.” I mean, yes, people like Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson can get away with it, because they know how to swear (and write dialog) with nuance and style. In this movie, it exemplifies the negative stereotype that foreigners have of American action movies in terms of dialog.

Beyond that, I enjoyed the film and I like how it went against my expectations regarding the Turbo character. I thought they were setting up for a Bloodsport-esque tragedy during the semifinals, thus giving Boyka and more personal and less abstract reason to want to win, but they pulled a fast one on me and kudos to them for that.

The movie also benefits in having a coherent tournament structure, of which we see every match. There are eight participants, which would be structured with the first elimination round (or quarter-finals), two semi-final matches, and lastly, the final showdown. I think it goes without saying that we’ll be seeing Boyka facing off with Dolor, which is a stand-off between two of the great onscreen fighters of the last twenty years, a summit of martial arts talent.

Fight choreographer Larnell Stovall does an even better job with the performers than veteran J.J. Perry did in the previous movie, which is saying a lot. I mean, he does some of the best work I’ve seen in an American film that didn’t import an Asian action director. He’s *that* good here. Being a 2010 film, there are all sorts of styles, plus take-downs, ground fighting, and the usual MMA rigmarole to complement the aerial kicks and showy moves on display. All of that looks fabulous, so let’s focus on the bootwork:

 

·         During Boyka’s fight with Sykov, Scott Adkins performs a move where he does a right roundhouse kick to his opponent’s left knee, pushes off the leg with that foot, lefts himself into the air, and does a left roundhouse to the side of his opponent’s face;

·         Lateef Crowder (the capoeira fighter in Tom Yum Goong) takes on a Greek fighter (Radoslav Parvanov, who recently choreographed the female empowerment fantasy The Princess) and does a nice handstand kick that is reminiscent of the one Jet Li does against Chin Siu-Ho in Fist of Legend;

·         Also, watch for Crowder doing one of his capoeira cartwheels, only to lock his leg around his opponent’s neck and change it into a takedown;

 

·         Marko Zaror’s signature move is a double butterfly spin followed by spinning heel kick (how does someone that big get so much airtime?);

 

·         The North Korean fighter, played by Ilram Choi (who choreographed Spider-Man: Homecoming), does a trademark Donnie Yen jumping back kick;

 

·         When Adkins faces off with Lateef Crowder, the latter does a nice move where he blocks a bunch with his leg, locks around the arm, and turns it into a takedown;

 

·         Scott Adkins does all sorts of crazy kicks in this. My personal favorite was watching him perform a jumping spin kick, land on his jumping foot (his kicking foot still in the air), pivoting in a circle and performing a standing spinning front kick with the original kicking foot. In films like Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, we see the performer do a jumping spin kick and then follow it up with a grounded spin kick with the other foot. It’s nifty to see Adkins use the same foot twice in such a fluid series of movements.

 

·         Adkins also does a jumping side kick with both feet simultaneously (Donnie Yen does this in In the Line of Duty IV and Legend of the Wolf), a backflip kick that he has done in other films, and his infamous Pelé bicycle kick, too.

 

·         Zaror performs this really weird aerial spinning axe kick against Adkins during the final fight, which I’m still trying to figure what he actually did to perform it.

 

All things considered, I give the film a hearty recommendation, even if the dialog is a bit weak. There are some good character moments and awesomely-choreographed action to satisfy all but the stuffiest action fans.