Listen up wrestling fans, another one of your favorite ass-kicking legends of the squared circle is the lead in an action movie! Stone Cold Steve Austin has now joined the ranks of the less-than-memorable transitions from wrestler-to-actor in a B-movie project produced by A-level bucks (remember Hulk Hogan’s No Holds Barred?  John Cena’s The Marine? Kane’s See No Evil? Yep, they all pretty much tanked).  Granted, Austin put his comedic foot forward when he played one of the gridiron prison guards against Adam Sandler in 2005’s The Longest Yard, but now The Condemned is a test to see how well he can handle action-fare like his good buddy, The Rock.

The film surrounds a rich and ambitious producer who illegally sets up a life and death game show on a remote island, to be broadcast over the internet.  Recruiting ten notorious death row inmates as contestants, the sole surviving criminal obtains their freedom if they win.  As the game unfolds, alliances are made, betrayals take place, and some contestants take the fight right into the production studio.

On the whole, The Condemned is a half-decent flick, one of the better movies (but far from perfect) produced by Vince McMahon and his wrestling corporation.  Although not much in style (with a storyline that screams plagiarism from two other movies about convicts fighting to the death in The Running Man and No Escape), the movie is shot in a gorgeous environment with some crisp imagery, has some neat surprises in character deaths, and also possesses themes that are relevant to the times concerning violence in entertainment.  Austin’s Jack Conrad lead is lightly entertaining, but he’s upstaged by Vinnie Jones (X-Men: The Last Stand) who relishes and runs wild on his role as villain McStarley.

As I stated before, the film has a gorgeous locale, so the image is actually really good for a standard DVD.  Thing are always clear, including all black levels.  The sound however is a strong disappointing element to the DVD.  Normally a 5.1 EX track does wonders for a sound system, but this time it sounds no better than an average 5.1.  There are several occasions I had to crank the volume to hear dialogue, and background sounds. 

The disc does have some worthwhile features.  There are two commentary tracks, and both feature enthusiastic director Scott Wiper, but the one with the most value is the candid addition of Stone Cold Steve Austin himself along with the director.  Together the reveal some interesting info about the film’s genesis in the early stages (like Austin almost playing McStarley).  The best feature is the five-part “making of” segments which each provide some interesting highlights focusing on the characters, the camera work, the themes, the fight training and choreography, and some little behind-the-scenes mischief among the cast and crew.  Most of the other features are throwaway time wasters which aren’t really engaging to watch, like the storyboard sequences, Austin and Jones reminiscing about a pay-per-view they both appeared at, and a Stone Cold signing in Australia.  The theatrical trailer along with other Lionsgate trailers (like See No Evil) round out the disc features.

Not really a movie I would recommend, although I’ve been a Stone Cold fan for years, but it is viewable for a two hour turn-your-brain-off escape when there is nothing else to watch.  As for Stone Cold himself, he doesn’t come out swinging with an action movie that could propel him to a superstar status, but he’s well on his way as a wrestler trying to be an actor in the foreseeable future.

Review By Ryan Young