| The Circuit 2 (2003) Cast:Olivier Gruner,Lorenzo Lamas,Jalal Merhi,Gail Harris,Michael Blanks,Gary Hudson Olivier Gruner stars as a kickboxer who goes behind bars to get revenge on the men who brutally attacked his reporter girlfriend who was about to break a big story on the corrupt circuit fighting behind bars in this laughable martial arts actioner. Thank goodness! I was affraid bad movies weren't enjoyable anymore, most martial arts actioners have been mainly dull and just plain bad, but not so with Circuit 2, a movie so astonishingly terrible that I don't know where to begin my review. Olivier Gruner has never really been all that great of an actor but here he really takes the cake, with a horrible bald look that only adds to the unintentionally humorous surroundings as well as a damn dull performance which makes Jean-Claude Van Damme seem like Al Pacino, fortunately there is always some dumb action to enjoy. Infact the last half of this hilariously awful martial arts bash fest is only action. So one thing someone can't accuse this sequel of is a lack of action. . .Too bad it comes off more like a breakdancing routine then a fight. However the only thing consistent here is the dependably bad performance from Jalal Merhi, the guy cannot act although he does do a surprisingly competent directing job here. Lorenzo Lamas does more posing then fighting here, but his fans won't mind cause he does get in a few fist-fights. Mainly this is Gruner's show and it's as awful as what you'd expect however surprisingly it's pretty entertaining mainly because of it's laughably bad melodramatics.. As far as butt-kicking franchises go, The Circuit seems to be a series that may well be worth looking forward to, I mean the first was a painful clunker, the sequel however is so spectactular in it's sheer awfulness I was eagarly awaiting the next sequel. It's probally the best comedy you'll ever see... D.Jalal Merhi |
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