High Impact Reviews: Undisputed 2 – Last Man Standing (2007)

2007, Nu Image/New Line Cinema
Genre: Fighting

Directed by:
Isaac Florentine
Produced by:
Boaz Davidson
David Varod
Written by:
James Townsend
David N. White
Cinematography:
Ross Clarkson
Editing:
Irit Raz
Action Choreography:
J.J. Perry
Cast:
Michael Jai White (George “Iceman” Chambers)
Scott Adkins (Yuri Boyka)
Ben Cross (Stevie Parker)
Eli Danker (Crot)
Mark Ivanir (Gaga)
Ken Lerner (Phil Gold)
Daisy Lang (Svetlana)
Ivailo Geraskov (Alexi)
Valentin Ganev (Warden Markov)
Silvio Simac (Davic)

Walter Hill’s 2002 prison boxing film Undisputed pitted Ving Rhames’ former boxing champion against Wesley Snipes’ prison champion. This time, under director Isaac Florentine (U.S. Seals II), Rhames is replaced by Michael Jai White and instead of boxing, we have martial arts fighting to the extreme.

White takes over for Ving Rhames as George “Iceman” Chambers, a former heavyweight boxing champion who goes to Russia to shoot a vodka commercial. Upset that he has to do commercials to restore his image, Chambers is about to head for the biggest nightmare of his life. When he is framed by a group of thugs for carrying drugs in his Bible, Chambers is sent to the toughest prison in Russia.

It is here where Chambers soon learns that he is a wanted man from the beginning. He becomes the target of Yuri Boyka, played by British martial arts ace Scott Adkins. Boyka is the prison’s top fighter and champion of the ring. However, it’s a totally different ballgame as Boyka is an expert in various styles of martial arts from tae kwon do to grappling. In fact, the film was released as the fad of mixed martial arts action, seen in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and EliteXC, have become very popular in the United States. As Chambers constantly is challenged by Boyka, Chambers constantly refuses only to learn that he has been set up from his agent and the head of the Russian Mafia, who want to see the former boxing champ take on the current prison champ.

After a nail-biting defeat at the hands of Boyka, Chambers learns he was drugged during the fight by cellmate Stevie, who was forced by Boyka’s thugs to drug Chambers’ water. However, Boyka learns of the incident and kills his men for making him look like a fool. Boyka has challenged Chambers because he is setting himself up to become the pioneer of the evolution of fighters. Meanwhile, Chambers, having a thirst for revenge, finds a new mentor in the wheelchair-bound Crot (Eli Danker, Special Forces), who tells Chambers he must adapt to Boyka’s martial arts style while keeping his trademark boxing techniques.

Michael Jai White, a black belt in seven different martial arts styles, gets perhaps his best role since starring as the titular character of Spawn in 1997. Replacing Rhames as former champion Chambers, White shows a tenacity and bad attitude that is reminiscent of Rhames in the original film. According to director Isaac Florentine, Rhames wanted to return to the role for this film, but his schedule conflicted with his starring role on the short-lived redux of Kojak. Without a doubt, White makes a suitable replacement due to his experience with martial arts films and fight choreography, even appearing in the Hong Kong film Silver Hawk in 2004.

If one man is going to be the breakout star here, White only comes in second to British martial arts ace Scott Adkins. Collaborating with director Florentine on 2003′s Special Forces, Adkins was able to showcase his talented martial arts skills and kicks it up a major notch with his role of prison champion Yuri Boyka. Boyka is seen as the bad guy of the film, but in actuality, he is not exactly a villain, but rather a respected fighter who only wants to take on the best to see if he can become the next evolution in champions. At first, it may seem like Boyka is the complete villain, but in the scene where he kills two of his own men for drugging Chambers, it becomes proof that Boyka may not look sympathetic, but he has some sort of respect for Chambers as a champion.

In terms of the film’s fight sequences, fight choreographer J.J. Perry (who got some help from director Florentine, a Shotokan-karate stylist himself and one time fight choreographer) adapted to the Hong Kong school of hard knocks and utilizes the style to full effect, even taking a page out of Donnie Yen’s recent collaboration of mixed martial arts and fast and furious kicking. What helps when it comes to shooting a fight scene is the cinematography and with Australian-born Hong Kong cinematographer Ross Clarkson behind the camera, the fight scenes, especially with Adkins showing off his most impressive kicking to date on celluloid, they are truly a delight to watch.

As the original Undisputed didn’t get much fare, Undisputed 2 is definitely a well-hyped martial arts action packed film loaded with excellent performances from the cast plus some of the best martial arts-filled fight sequences seen in an American film to date.

Rating: 9.5/10

-Albert Valentin

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