The Condemned

For the 1975 Austrian film, see The Condemned (1975 film). For the Doctor Who audio play, see The Condemned (Doctor Who audio).
The Condemned

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Scott Wiper
Produced by Joel Simon
Screenplay by
  • Scott Wiper
  • Rob Hedden
Story by
Starring
Music by Graeme Revell
Cinematography Ross Emery
Edited by Derek Brechin
Production
company
WWE Films
(Condemned Productions, Inc.)
Colossal Entertainment
New Wave Entertainment
Distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment
Release dates
  • April 27, 2007 (2007-04-27)
Running time
 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $8.6 million[1]

The Condemned is a 2007 American action film written and directed by Scott Wiper. The film stars Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones, Robert Mammone, Tory Mussett, Madeleine West and Rick Hoffman.

The film centers on ten convicts who are forced to fight each other to the death as part of an illegal game which is being broadcast to the public. The Condemned was filmed in Queensland.[2] Fight choreography was coordinated by Richard Norton, who also stunt doubles for Jones on some scenes. A sequel titled The Condemned 2 starring Randy Orton was released in 2015.

The film was produced by WWE Films and distributed by Lionsgate on April 27, 2007.

Plot

Jack Conrad (Steve Austin) is awaiting execution in a corrupt Salvadoran prison. He is "purchased" by a wealthy television producer and transported to a deserted island in the South Pacific along with nine other condemned criminals similarly purchased from prisons around the world. They are "offered" the opportunity to avoid capital punishment and win back their freedom by fighting to the death in an illegal game to be filmed and broadcast live over the Internet.

A bomb is placed on the ankle of every contestant, each featuring a 30-hour countdown timer, and a pin (similar to a grenade) that will detonate the bomb after a ten-second delay. The winner will have the bomb removed and be given their freedom as well as a pocket full of cash as the prize. Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone), the producer, is aiming for online ratings that equal or beat the latest Super Bowl reception of 40 million television viewers.

As the broadcast progresses, FBI agents discover Conrad's real identity as Jack Riley after a tip from one of Conrad's former classmates. Conrad is discovered to be a former Delta Force operative who was captured on a Black ops mission to El Salvador after bombing a building controlled by drug dealers. Conrad's girlfriend Sarah (Madeleine West) becomes aware of the situation and watches the show at the local bar she works at as it unfolds.

Ewan McStarley (Vinnie Jones) and Saiga (Masa Yamaguchi) team up to remove the competition, while Yasantwa (Emelia Burns) uses her wiles to trick others to their death. After seeing the show's broadcast tower before the show, Conrad infiltrates the tower and calls Sarah, managing to tell her the latitude of the island before he is forced to leave.

After the other seven contestants have died, Conrad is left alone against McStarley and Saiga. He stabs Saiga, and McStarley flees. Eventually, a helicopter drops a shotgun down to McStarley, who uses it to hunt down Conrad. After Conrad falls into a stream, McStarley runs into the cameraman and his armed guard dressed in ghillie suits while searching for Conrad, and shoots them, picking up the guard's MP5 submachine gun.

When McStarley and Conrad meet again, Conrad ends up rolling over a cliff and into a stream to avoid being shot by McStarley's shotgun. Conrad is presumed dead by the fall, and McStarley is declared the winner. As McStarley is being driven to the control tower to collect his prize, Breckel hears that the FBI has sent United States Navy SEALs to take him into custody. After he meets McStarley and de-activates his bomb, he tells him that he will not receive his prize money. Breckel and McStarley fixed the game in his favor in exchange for his freedom and profits. McStarley takes an MP5 from one of the guards, and kills the tech team in the building, one by one, even though they truthfully did not know that Breckel was abandoning them all. When he corners Julie, Breckel's girlfriend, he is confronted by Conrad, who shoots him several times after talking briefly. Conrad grabs McStarley's two machine guns and chases down Breckel, who is fleeing the island in a helicopter. After emptying the two guns firing at the helicopter, he is given McStarley's re-activated ankle bomb by Julie. Conrad throws it into the helicopter, which explodes and crashes into a cliff.

The epilogue shows Conrad being driven back to Sarah's home in Texas, a free man. He is greeted by Sarah, who presumed him dead after he fell off the cliff in his struggle against McStarley. The film ends with Conrad smiling slowly.

Cast

Soundtrack

The Condemned (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released 24 April 2007
Genre Rock
Length 54:53
Label WWE Music Group

The Condemned (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released on April 24, 2007. It was composed by Graeme Revell. It is exclusively available on the iTunes Store.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Opening Titles (Score)"  Graeme Revell3:33
2."Black Betty"  Spiderbait3:27
3."Hands of Time"  Groove Armada4:22
4."Umbrella"  Chymera7:23
5."This Colorful World"  Eliot Morris4:45
6."You Say"  Aya Peard5:01
7."Casino (Solid State Remix)"  Tommi Eckhardt5:44
8."To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)"  Ryan Adams3:04
9."The Island and Conrad (Score)"  Graeme Revell3:58
10."Souljacker, Pt. 1"  Eels3:15
11."Over & Under"  Egypt Central3:01
12."Unbreakable"  Cage93:15
13."I Won't Do What You Tell Me (Josh Wink Remix)"  Josh Wink3:55
Total length:54:53
Additional tracks

Other songs featured in the film, but not included on the soundtrack:

Release

Critical response

The critical response to the film was overwhelmingly negative. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with a 15% rating, registering 15 "fresh" reviews out of 99,[3] while Metacritic gives the film a 23% rating.[4] Complaints against The Condemned included accusations of plot holes, overly preachy tone, lack of plot progression, hypocritical morals, poor fight choreography and one "fake" wrestler.

V.A. Musetto of the New York Post gave the film zero stars out of four, describing it as a "sickeningly violent and inane movie" and complaining that it is a bad rip-off of Battle Royale and The Most Dangerous Game.[5]

One of the few positive reviews came from Michael Booth of the Denver Post. He described the concept as "The Truman Show meets Con Air" and makes positive notes about the reality television aspects of the story, although he cautions readers not to expect "high art" based on the 3 star rating he gives the film.[6]

Box office

The film debuted with a $3.8m opening weekend in the US. The film lasted only 4 weeks in theaters and posted a big loss, closing with a total of $7,371,706.[7] The movie fared worse internationally, taking only $1,271,152 in limited foreign markets, for a total of $8,642,858. The film reportedly lost $15,700,000.

Home media

On September 18, 2007, The Condemned was released on DVD and Blu-ray. Opening at no.4, The Condemned brought in $6,520,918 in the first week. Overall, it has sold an estimated 1.185 million DVD units earning $22,673,378, more than 200% its box office gross.[7]

The Condemned was released in Australia on January 4, 2008, with an MA15+ rating (Strong Violence, Strong Coarse Language). It was released in New Zealand DVD in February 2008 with an R18 rating (Contains Violence and Offensive Language). The DVD made its release in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2008 with a rating of 18 (Contains Strong Violence and Language). This was a straight to DVD release in the United Kingdom.

Sequel

A sequel titled The Condemned 2 starring Randy Orton was released in November 6, 2015.

References

  1. ↑ The Condemned at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  2. ↑ "Nine's new drama series to be filmed in Queensland". Carnival Askew. Retrieved 2009-04-27. In 2006, the company worked on the WWE feature film The Condemned in the Sunshine State
  3. ↑ The Condemned (2007) at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  4. ↑ "Condemned, The". Meta Critic. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  5. ↑ V.A. Musetto (April 27, 2007). "Executioner's wrong: Fans condemned to bad cinema.". New York Post. Retrieved 2009-10-31. Amazingly, "The Condemned" received an R rating, more proof that the censors are more concerned with sex and nudity (there is none here) than violence.
  6. ↑ Michael Booth (2007-04-27). ""Condemned" pins lust for violence to the wall". Denver Post. Retrieved 2009-10-31. The Deadliest Game has played out many times on screen, including with Arnold Schwarzenegger in a post-apocalypse The Running Man, but rarely is it aimed as squarely at the pitfalls of pop culture as in The Condemned.
  7. 1 2 The Numbers The Condemned Retrieved 2009-10-31.
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