Fight Circle (2004)

A medieval martial arts film where a woman warrior named Paky (Anna Henke) maneuvers her way into a male-centered fight arena where the victor determines life or death for his opponent.

Fight Circle seems like a potentially groan-inducing amateur martial arts movie created by renaissance fair attendees. Medieval-era warriors seek battle centering on a mystical ring of trees. The fact that this feature-length independent movie premiered on the Internet seemed far more intriguing than the film itself. That is, until I saw it.

Although the importation of Asian martial arts into the Europe of the Middle Ages is fundamentally flawed and the budget appears virtually non-existent, there are a couple of reasons why Fight Circle is worth seeing. First and foremost, this is a martial arts flick. Put the simple costumes and thin storyline aside and you have a series of very solid fight scenes that are varied, make good use of the outdoor environment, and feature competent choreography from Sam Hargrave, who also belts out the film’s best moves as the heroic Trebor. The main fighters, including Anna Henke who plays the leading role and sports a mean high kick, look as though they put a lot of effort into realistic choreography. Secondly, the acting and direction is surprisingly good – not great – but better than your average direct-to-video feature with ten times the amount of resources available.

The story is basically an old school kung fu premise where an aspiring fighter pleads with a martial arts master to become his student. Paky (Anna Henke), a young woman wants to join in a competition known as ‘Fight Circle’ where fighters come together to challenge each other, sometimes to the death. Undan (Runyon Woods) is a seasoned warrior in the ‘Obi Wan Kenobi’ tradition who patiently imparts spiritual wisdom upon his new warrior pupil. But after being sexually assaulted by thieves, she runs off with Undan’s ‘kung fu’ manual and eventually joins another young warrior named Trebor (Sam Hargrave. She eventually returns to her master to complete her training and join the Fight Circle where an undefeated and heartless warrior (Kas DeCarvalho) awaits.

The script sadly lacks basic information in terms of characterizations and explanations of events. It’s as if a short film premise were stretched out into a feature film, which is actually what happened. It’s never very clear why these people from all over gather in the woods to fight each other. The warriors don’t actually compete in the ‘fight circle’ arena-style, which is what I was half-expecting. Rather, they leave a necklace at the circle. Once again, it’s not very clear how this all works, but later a challenge necklace is left dangling in the trees near wherever a fighter happens to be at the moment. They then grab it and go looking for their opponent. Because the entire film is shot in the woods with only one brief scene containing anything resembling semi-fixed habitation, it’s difficult to get a handle on where anyone is in relation to each other or where they’re going. Further distancing the viewer is a shiftless plot which fails to move forcefully towards a robust conclusion. Instead, the story favors reflection in a few nicely shot flashbacks while the ending arrives as if the film were a car that had simply run out of gas and sputtered to a stop in the middle of the road.

It may be a little unfair to toss out such criticism without acknowledging what is clearly an ultra-low budget movie. In Fight Circle’s defense, the camera work, natural lighting, and editing are professional, tight and never obtrusive. The actors make good use of their roles and their lines. Thomas Shanks as the earnest Mullag who pines for the affections of Paky is especially convincing and Kas DeCarvalho is suitably menacing in the role of the lead villain. I was also impressed by the size of the supporting cast, many of them also crew members. But quite a few fight extensively. Composer Robert Hunt deserves credit for scoring complementary early music on keyboards that is actually evocative of the film’s era.

Fight Circle has its share of flaws, but overall Donald Whittier and his team have crafted a stripped down, engaging martial arts film with heart. Don’t let the medieval setting and pale faces fool you, at its core this is a traditional kung fu movie where combat drives the story forward and with quality choreography throughout, that’s a good thing.