Ring of Death

Plot synopsis:
Burke Wyatt (Johnny Messner) is a hardened ex-cop with a seasoned history of extreme and over-the-top methods during his time with the police, but having been dismissed for the past three years after drastically subduing a criminal, he wades through a rough stretch in his life; separated from his wife (Charlotte Ross), he plays a part-time father to their only son, Tommy (Uriah Shelton).
He quietly harbors a desire to return to the force, and he gets the chance when approached by his old partner and friend, and now a successful FBI agent, Steve James (Derek Webster), who visits Burke to talk about an investigation into the suspicious and violent murders of several inmates at Cainsville State Penitentiary, a notorious and brutal maximum security prison, with the suspicion that the prison warden, Carl Golan (Stacy Keach), is running an underground fight club where prisoners fight to the death for the entertainment of private viewers and paying internet subscribers and for the financial gain of prison officials. Needing someone to infiltrate the prison, Burke is offered the job with the promise of a massive trust fund for his son and reinstatement on the force with an FBI job. Unable to let the opportunity pass, he agrees to the prospects and his desire whetted, the offer can’t be refused and he agrees to pose as a prison inmate to investigate the deaths.
A high-profile operation, the only way to get inside the prison without arousing suspicion is for Burke to commit a crime himself and receive a jail sentence. Waiting outside a police precinct, he assaults an officer and steals his squad car, then purposely surrenders himself, and once sentenced, is transported to the prison in a bus with other convicts.
Not long after arrival inside, Burke brushes with some of the more dangerous inmates of the prison, almost landing himself in fatal situations, and eventually crosses swords with Milton Kennedy a.k.a. The President (Lester Speight), a towering, physically imposing and vicious criminal and the boss of the prison's biggest gang known as 'The Disciples'. Feared and respected by all other felons, he has an untouchable status among them as well as to the guards.
Burke's steel is then tested when he must defend himself against a lowly group of cons, but his prowess only attracts the interest of Warden Golan, who only sees in him a new addition to his league of fighters. Soon, FBI suspicions are confirmed when Burke is plunged into a cruel, sadistic world of life or death duels where he finds himself forced to compete for the warden and his guards in the blood sport that he was drafted to expose.

Tags: flashback

Review:
More prison clichés than you can shake a stick at. A mildly entertaining, if derivative, prison fighting flick. The story of this one was not so much created as liberally borrowed from a dozen other genre entries, from DEATH WARRANT to PENITENTIARY, with bits of THE CONDEMNED thrown in for good measure. For a TV movie it's surprisingly explicit, with truly bone-crunching bouts that end with the participants typically lying covered in blood.The action is well staged, although there are some annoying directorial flourishes and supposedly cute editing that make this a product of its time. Director Bradford May, responsible for the DARKMAN sequels as well as the similarly staged MASK OF THE NINJA (also 2008), should know better.Aside from the action, there's little to write home about – unless the sight of silicon-enhanced bimbos is likely to keep you occupied. Johnny Messner is a serviceable hero figure, and the supporting cast is made up of the usual prison clichés: sadistic guards, veteran old-timers, the fresh guy likely to get raped or murdered before long. Stacy Keach plays the warden in an extraordinarily hammy performance that seems to have been based on Winston Churchill, of all people. Nothing we haven't seen before then, but it passes the time for undemanding viewers.. Just not strong enough. Saw this one yesterday after reading the plot line. I was hoping for something similar to Prison Break but with a lot of action.This could have been made with a lot more effectiveness. Cop goes into prison as a convict to nab a bunch of crooks who run a fighting tournament and stream it Live on the internet - old wine in a new bottle. Still it could have been handled better. Weak dialogs and ineffective editing, only shows that very little effort has been spent on the script. Stunt scenes look powerful but that alone cant lift the whole thing up.Johnny Messner does a clean job - cannot complain about him. I was looking for something similar to Prison Break mashed up with some Urban Fight but sadly, the fight was present but the shrewdness of the Prison Break series was totally missing.. The 80's action movie lives!!!!!!. Realism isn't one of the strong elements of this martial arts gem. You've seen this movie before dozens of times. A guy has to go to prison undercover to investigate and fight in an underground martial arts tournament. A sadistic prison warden makes money off these fights by allowing rich people to place bets over the internet. Some of these fights, gasp, are to the DEATH. In between the fight action there are pretty girls who dance around for no particular reason. How it is pretty girls are allowed to dance around suggestively in a prison full of murderers and rapists is beyond me.This movie is fun as long as you don't expect too much. The end of the movie is classic. (SPOILER) The main character, who was sent to prison for assaulting a police officer, is rewarded by becoming an FBI agent. If you want to join the FBI don't worry about complicated exams, just go to prison and fight MMA, that's how you get in. Ah yes, one can learn much from a prison martial arts template movie.. Not that bad action thriller, if your expectations aren't that high anyway.... Ring of Death starts as disgraced ex cop Burke Wyatt (Johnny Messner) is approached by his ex partner Rapper (Jawara) who now works for the FBI & has a deal for Burke, in exchange for Burke going undercover Rapper says that the FBI are willing to set up a trust fund for his young son & give him a job. Burke agrees & Rapper briefs him, Burke has to go undercover into Cainsville state prison which the FBI are investigating due to the high fatality rate there. Burke will go undercover & be treated like any other inmate, Burke has been chosen because he is an ex marine fighter & the FBI suspect that Golan (Stacy Keach) the corrupt warden is staging illegal fights between the inmates & broadcasting them online & making a mint from the frenzied betting. Burke is alone once he gets to Cainsville & must survive the other inmates who take a dislike to him as well as the sadistic warden & the vicious prison guards while taking part in the fighting tournament...Directed by Bradford May this made for television action thriller apparently had the working title Death Match & was actually a lot better than I expected it to be, don't get me wrong as Ring of Death is no masterpiece but for what it is & what it sets out to be this ain't half bad. The script is a collection of over used ideas & clichés like the ex cop hero, an undercover agent going into prison to infiltrate criminal activity, a corrupt warden & vicious guard's, the underground fighting tournament, the online broadcast for huge profit & the one super fighter who the good guy must fight in order to win. The script is fairly predictable, it holds no great surprises but at a brisk 80 odd minutes it keeps moving along at a decent pace, there's just enough fighting & just enough character development & plot to make it worthwhile & give the character's some life & personality. It's unclear as to why the FBI can't pin the crime on warden Golan since he has been broadcasting the fights all over the internet & from an official point of view nobody but Rapper seems to know about Burke which is surely a precarious situation as if something happened to Rapper his mate Burke would be screwed. The ending is also a little random as warden Golan himself jumps into the ring to take Burke on in a somewhat pointless exercise, if I were him I would be too busy getting away before I was arrested.One strong aspect of Ring of Death is the fight scenes which are actually quite well staged & suitably brutal if a little short. Ring of Death isn't the type of action film where people can take all sorts of punishment & keep on going, when someone gets punched here they bleed, they go down & actually look hurt. The fights are quite bloody with lots of spurting blood, there's a also a cool scene when some barb wire gets thrown into the arena & a guy wraps it around his hand to use as a weapon. There's also a brief if alright car chase where it seems like the makers weren't allowed to damage the cars as even though they bump into each other the cars never show any sort of damage. The production values are good & it looks like this was filmed in a real prison, for those interested there's a fair bit of female nudity too as all the rich & powerful men like to hang around topless girls while the warden generously puts on a lesbian show between three babes for the inmates.Probably shot on a low budget Ring of Death actually looks rather nice, it certainly doesn't look like a cheap made for television action film. The acting is alright, no-one is going to win any awards but no-one embarrasses themselves either. Veteran actor Stacy Keach looks rather flabby & bored & we never find out why he has a bad eye.Ring of Death was much better than I had expected, it has good production values & surprisingly good fight scenes which are very violent & bloody if a little short. A solid, if predictable, plot & a reasonable cast also help make Ring of Death worth a watch.