Don’t let the title fool you. UNDISPUTED 2: LAST MAN STANDING may sound like a typical sequel to a forgettable American B-movie actioner, but this one has a lot more under the hood, particularly for martial arts fans. Alright, so it’s set in the clichéd arena of a corrupt prison, filmed in Eastern Europe with locals as supporting cast, and replaces A-listers like Wesley Snipes (that may be arguable at this point) and Ving Rhames with two lesser-known actors with few starring credits. You also have celebrated cult moviemaker Walter Hill (THE WARRIORS) replaced by a former MIGHTY MORPHIN’ POWER RANGERS series director. What might seem like a step backward to the uninformed are in fact two steps forward where once again director Isaac Florentine takes an otherwise ordinary film franchise and turns it into screen fighting heaven.
Florentine worked his magic previously with U.S. SEALS II, thus turning a mediocre military actioner into a cult genre hit, packed with Hong Kong and Japanese-style martial arts action and no pretense at providing anything more serious than that. He followed this up with SPECIAL FORCES, another military-themed movie for Nu Image. It was serviceable, but it wasn’t difficult to see that Florentine’s genre sensibilities were being restrained by less compelling conventions. Initially, UNDISPUTED II was set to end up the same way with a military theme replaced by the generic boxing theme of the original 2002 film. Thankfully, Florentine had his way and broadened the boxing action into the realm of mixed martial arts.
So far, mixed martial arts has been the hot topic of the 21st century where competitive martial arts is concerned. This has led some genre filmmakers to replace fancy weapons sparring, kickboxing, wushu and other popular mid-to-long range screen fighting moves with the more close range grappling, holds, takedowns, and limb breaks of fighting arts like jujitsu and Muay Thai. UNDISPUTED 2 takes a healthy portion of this type of martial arts, mixes it with traditional boxing and fills it all out with a lean and engaging plot with a heart.
Michael Jai White, who genre fans last saw as a fighter in Michelle Yeoh’s SILVER HAWK replaces Ving Rhames as heavyweight boxing champion George Chambers. He’s the picture of a conceited and ill-tempered American pro athlete in decline, now forced to sell his celebrity abroad to finance his posh lifestyle. While shilling Vodka in Russia, Chambers is framed for drug possession, thrown into a mafia-run prison and forced to fight in an underground mixed martial arts competition. His opponent is Boyka, a fiercely driven mixed martial arts fighter with dreams of being the greatest fighting champion on Earth. Hong Kong movie veteran Scott Adkins (BLACK MASK 2, UNLEASHED) re-teams with Florentine in this leading role after making a brief, but memorable appearance as a martial arts-fighting SAS operative in SPECIAL FORCES.
Once Chambers realizes his only way out of this hell hole is to fight, he is determined to best Boyka with traditional boxing. The hook is that Boyka’s larger repertoire of stylized fighting moves, honed to perfection by beating all previous contenders, puts Chambers at a disadvantage. Chambers strikes an unlikely friendship with Worm (Eli Danker), a former Russian special forces member now aged, left to rot in prison and confined to a wheel chair following a failed prison break. Worm fulfills the role of sifu or sensei by teaching Chambers a few military fighting tactics to counter Boyka’s mixed martial arts skills. But more importantly, Worm and his fellow inmates give Chambers an important lesson in humanity by coming to his aid when he’s mistreated by prison guards. Both lessons are essential for the former helps Chambers to be released from his literal confinement, while the latter helps him to be released from a self-imposed prison of the heart.
I could go on about how the story by James Townsend and David N. White overcomes genre convention by the end with partial thanks to fine supporting roles from TV veterans Eli Danker and Ben Cross as Chambers’ heroin-addicted cellmate. But the martial arts action is what it’s all about.
Veteran, A-list Hollywood stuntman J.J. “Loco” Perry earns his first lead fight choreography credit on UNDISPUTED II and hopefully it won’t be the last. To put it simply, the screen fighting action in this film is quite impressive by any standard. Most of the fighting takes place in the ring, but doesn’t feel restrictive or routine at all. Many of the moves look fresh and are mixed together and paced perfectly with the assurance of a Hong Kong action movie veteran. Clearly, Perry isn’t your average Hollywood man. But neither are the stars.
Michael Jai White is well versed in martial arts and possesses a physique to sell just about any move, but he has a difficult task to perform. He has to restrain his screen fighting skills and portray a conventional boxer forced to adapt himself to a more dynamic fighting style in short order. He does a great job of this, while also performing some slick “real-world” moves outside of the ring when fighting mob thugs and prison guards. White is a versatile stunt and dramatic actor, but just hasn’t gotten the opportunity for a great leading action role until now. This is a film well suited to his skills and I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing as well.
Overshadowing White for sheer martial arts showmanship is Scott Adkins in the role I’ve been waiting to see him in ever since I saw him in SPECIAL FORCES. This isn’t a slight to White by any means. It just means that Adkins gets the juicer role. Florentine knows the martial arts genre well and makes sure that the fighting villain looks positively bad ass. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Western screen fighter deliver fighting moves with such a high level of flair and technical skill. With no wires or doubling, Adkins practically invents moves I can safely say I’ve never seen before, at least not in the quick succession shown here. Despite having added muscle mass for this role to slow him down, Adkins flips and spins his way through a dizzying array of aerial kicks that blow away anyone coming out of Asia of late apart from Tony Jaa. Speaking of… a screen fight between these two right now would have the potential of being the next Jackie versus Benny “the Jet” Urquidez match (see WHEELS ON MEALS). Somebody, please… make it happen.
Some genre fans may notice the buffed up Silvio Simac among Atkins’ onscreen opponents. It’s a small role, but he stands out nonetheless. The two stunt actors previously worked together on Jet Li’s UNLEASHED (aka DANNY THE DOG). Their sparring is very tight, meaning blows actually touch or come very close. Their timing is amazing. Actually, so is the sparring between Atkins and White. You don’t need them to tell you that on more than one occasion blows are really hitting home. You can see it. This is the kind of unrestrained screen fighting rarely seen in Western filmmaking. No pain, no gain as they say.
I cannot stress enough how pleased I am with the framing and editing of the fight scenes in this movie. It takes a genuine action director with real martial arts skills to get it right and Isaac Florentine is one of few Western filmmakers that fit the description. There is an even mix of wider angles, close-ups, money shots, slow-mo, undercranking, you name it. Considering the limited time available to shoot these scenes, it’s amazing how well they come off. Then again, everyone involved knows what they’re doing and have years of experience. In his audio commentary Florentine points out that he was mostly working with cast and crew that he knew. That’s an important element as any student of Hong Kong action cinema knows, the stunt talent pool back in the day was a small, but tight-knit and prolific community. Familiarity and trust among cast and crew are essential to reach the highest levels of screen fighting mastery where missteps can mean a hospital visit.
Most everything else about the movie is relatively well done including lighting, art direction, use of the Bulgarian setting, and music. Limited CGI is used solely to enhance the environment or add a touch of realism to a climatic leg break. My only complaint is with the use of a particular stock sound effect, used primarily to build tension. It sounds a bit like a power saw scraping a metal surface. It’s been rehashed many times in low-budget horror movies and thrillers in the last few years. But for an estimated $8 million budget, I’ll let that one slide. UNDISPUTED II is the first great martial arts movie of 2007 and Isaac Florentine’s best to date.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Boxing • gambling • Isaac Florentine • Michael Jai White • MMA • mobster • narcotics • prison • Scott Adkins • Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2007) • Videos
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