| The Circuit (2000) Cast:Olivier Gruner, Gail Harris, "The Tiger Twins", Billy Drago, Loren Avedon Drago and Avedon are wasted in this deadly boring fight flick that stars Grunier as an undefeated champion who is forced back into action when another undefeated fighter wants to beat the stuffing out of him. This tiresome "Bloodsport" knock off is so boring and lackluster that one cannot help but squirm in their seat. What I wanna know is who's bright idea was it to cast Loren Avedon and not have him fight in the movie, The guy is an incredible onscreen fighter and seeing him not even throw a punch is a really bad decision on Jalal Merhi's part. I for one am hoping for a big Loren Avedon comeback , No Retreat No Surrender II and King Of The Kickboxers are really enjoyable and even though his Deadly Ransom flick is terrible, the fact remains Loren Avedon outclasses a lot of martial artists out in the straight to video market (Such as Gary Daniels,Jeff Speakman,David Bradley(Which isn't too hard considering how bad of an actor he is) and Olivier Gruner) Which brings us to the next problem: Olivier Gruner. The guy hasn't done anything good since "Nemesis", and the truth is Oliver Gruner is a terrible actor, He may be a good fighter but when it comes down to it he couldn't act his way out of a paperbag, Don "The Dragon" Wilson has more acting ability in his pinky then Gruner has in his body and the movie suffers due to his pathetic acting. If Olivier Gruner played "The Statue of Liberty" his act may actually work but here he keeps the same look on his face and looks bored through out the horizions of this wretched flick. The fact that it was done by Jalal Merhi (Who helmed the woeful "Operation Golden Phoenix") should warn you about the direction the guy can chreograph a good fight (check out Talons Of The Eagle and Tiger Claws) but here he seems to have lost his ethusiasm for directing a suspenseful fightscene because the fights are for the most part one-sided and wooden (with many flaws to be found) Trying to find something nice to say about The Circuit is like trying to compliment my Aunt's' tater-tot hot dish, no matter which way you look at it it's repellent. D.Jalal Merhi * |