DVD - The Condemned (18)

11:02am Thursday 3rd April 2008

A WEALTHY TV producer with far more money than sense and completely lacking in moral fibre devises a format for a revolting, illegal internet reality show involving 10 death row inmates from prisons all over the world.

The idea is that the 10 are sent to a desert island and try to kill each other by whatever means possible, filmed by hundreds of cameras and viewed live on the web by bloodthirsty viewers, and the last man standing after a day-and-a-half is released.

I was not particularly looking forward to a film which boasts Vinnie Jones and "Stone cold" Steve Austin, or The Ringmaster as he known in the WWE world, as the stars.

But despite the lack of any real acting talent, and a plot stolen from The Running Man, this was a thoroughly entertaining film.

Many of the convicts are absolutely hateful characters who you wouldn't spit on if they were on fire, but several, including Conrad (Austin) you can't help but warm to.

The Condemned has plenty of action and the script won't win any literary awards but it does its job well.

If you can look beyond Vinnie Jones' constant grimacing and snarling, which seems to constitute acting in his mind, then this film is actually not bad.

HC

EDITOR'S CHOICE