REVIEW: ‘Death Warrior’ (DVD – Lionsgate)

Hector Echavarria’s second MMA exploitation film, after NEVER SURRENDER, hits DVD and Blu-ray. Lionsgate’s DVD release of DEATH WARRIOR is a standard package for a low-budget B-movie. Congrats to Echavarria for making the front cover this time, assuming he’s the one getting knocked out by Rampage Jackson.

The main reason this release stinks, aside from the fact that it’s a crap movie, is that Lionsgate is selling it as an MMA all-star actioner when the MMA fighters are all just supporting actors backing up Echavarria who hogs most of the screen time with bad fighting moves and softcore porn scenes. But because MMA is popular, Lionsgate is hoping fans will be stupid enough to buy it anyway. Of course, anyone who saw NEVER SURRENDER should have a good idea of what’s in store for them should they pick this up.

Picture quality is marred by the film’s low-budget lighting and grainy digital camera work. Otherwise, the film looks and sounds decent for what it is.

Behind the Scenes (14 minutes) – Usual behind-the-scenes footage with cast and crew interviews including director Bill Corcoran, Hector Echavarria, MMA fighter Keith Cardine, and stunt coordinator Eric Bryson. There appears to be a big disconnect between the sound ideas these men express about what they are trying to achieve with the film and what their efforts actually produce. One problem seems to be that Corcoran doesn’t come across as someone who understands martial arts action at all. He seems professional but looks like a guy who is there for the pay check and not because he has anything special to bring to this movie.

Rules of a Knife Fight (6 minutes) – A behind-the-scenes look at the fight choreography, specifically a knife fight Echavarria is involved near the end of the film. Again, there is a disconnect between what Corcoran says he’s trying to achieve and what the final results look like. Perhaps he should have watched THE HUNTED a few times to see how its done. One interesting part about this segment is that we get to hear from veteran stuntman Louis Paquette, the best screen fighter in the film in my opinion. He plays a wushu-fighting ninja, which makes no sense but his form and wushu sword handling are solid and translate better onscreen than anything Echavarria or the MMA fighters are doing.

Interviews (5 minutes) – MMA fighters Georges St. Pierre, Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine are all briefly interviewed. Some of their comments appear in the “Behind the Scenes” segment also. They all come across as humble, nice guys who are eager to learn the crafts of acting and screen fighting.

DEATH WARRIOR Micro Video (2 minutes) – I think this is supposed to be called a music video, not “micro video.” It’s a montage of film footage set to music by a band called Lost Autumn.

Training in Hawaii with BJ Penn (1 minute) – The winner in a NEVER SURRENDER contest is shown training with BJ Penn in Hawaii. What isn’t clear is what the purpose is; to hang out with a pro-MMA fighter, get a guest role in a movie or get a chance to really learn some series MMA skills.

Trailers – Promo for TapouT, ad for website Break.com, and trailers for DEATH WARRIORS, NEVER SURRENDER, SUMMER’S MOON, FOUR DRAGONS (aka KINTA), and WRONG SIDE OF TOWN.

Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English 5.1, Spanish 5.1
Subtitles: English
Length: 90 minutes
Release Date: December 1, 2009