| The Condemned | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Scott Wiper |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by | Joel Simon |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ross Emery |
| Edited by | Derek Brechin |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release date |
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Running time | 113 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $8.6 million[1] |
The Condemned is a 2007action film written and directed byScott Wiper. The film starsSteve Austin,Vinnie Jones,Robert Mammone,Tory Mussett,Madeleine West andRick 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 inQueensland, Australia.[2]Fight choreography was coordinated byRichard Norton, who also stunt doubles for Jones on some scenes. A sequel titledThe Condemned 2 starringRandy Orton was released in 2015.
The film was produced byWWE Films and distributed byLionsgate on April 27, 2007.
Jack Conrad awaits execution in a corruptSalvadoran 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 from prisons around the world. They are "offered" the opportunity to avoid capital punishment and win back their freedom with a pocket full of cash 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, a failsafe mechanism that will set off the device, a tracking device, and a pin (similar to agrenade) 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, the TV show's creator and showrunner, is aiming for online ratings that equal or beat the latestSuper 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 formerDelta Force operative who was captured on aBlack ops mission to El Salvador after bombing a building controlled by drug dealers. Conrad's girlfriend Sarah becomes aware of the situation and watches the show at the local bar she works at as it unfolds.
As the contestants were dropped off on the island, there was a mishap where Italian contestant Dominic Giangrasso fell on a dilapidated pier and died after being impaled by one of the beams. Ewan McStarley and Saiga team up to remove the competition, while Yasantwa uses her wiles to trick Bruggerman and Mackie to their death. Conrad manages to kill Raudsep and teams up with Paco, who was desperate to find his wife. After reuniting with Rosa, Paco is severely injured by McStarley and Saiga and is forced to watch them rape and kill Rosa. Conrad manages to pull Paco away and 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 chased off by Baxter, Breck's head security guy.
McStarley and Saiga discover and kill Paco, then set him ablaze. Breck's girlfriend, Julie, and his head production guy, Goldman, begin to express disdain over the show. Yasantwa, discovered by McStarley and Saiga, sets off her own explosive, killing her. After seven contestants have already 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 inghillie suits while searching for Conrad, and shoots them, picking up the guard'sMP5submachine 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 sentUnited States Navy SEALs to take him into custody. Goldman catches wind of it and calls Breck out for it, and Breck has Baxter kill him. After he meets McStarley and de-activates his bomb, he tells him that he will not receive his prize money as it is revealed that Breckel has fixed the game in McStarley's favor. Conrad is then discovered by Breck and Baxter and Conrad kills Baxter as Breck flees. 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 about McStarley's past and how he was repeatedly raped whilst serving time in a prison in Africa. 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, and Breckel reaches for it; however, the helicopter explodes, and crashes into a cliff, killing Breckel and bringing his vicious game to an end. He then deactivates his own bomb.
Conrad is driven back to Sarah's home in Texas, a free man and reunited with her.
| The Condemned (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
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| 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 theiTunes Store.
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Opening Titles (Score)" | Graeme Revell | 3:33 |
| 2. | "Black Betty" | Spiderbait | 3:27 |
| 3. | "Hands of Time" | Groove Armada | 4:22 |
| 4. | "Umbrella" | Chymera | 7:23 |
| 5. | "This Colorful World" | Eliot Morris | 4:45 |
| 6. | "You Say" | Aya Peard | 5:01 |
| 7. | "Casino (Solid State Remix)" | Tommi Eckhardt | 5:44 |
| 8. | "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" | Ryan Adams | 3:04 |
| 9. | "The Island and Conrad (Score)" | Graeme Revell | 3:58 |
| 10. | "Souljacker, Pt. 1" | Eels | 3:15 |
| 11. | "Over & Under" | Egypt Central | 3:01 |
| 12. | "Unbreakable" | Cage9 | 3:15 |
| 13. | "I Won't Do What You Tell Me (Josh Wink Remix)" | Josh Wink | 3:55 |
| Total length: | 54:53 | ||
Other songs featured in the film, but not included on the soundtrack:
As of April, 2020,Rotten Tomatoes listed the film with a 15% rating, based on 101 reviews. The site's consensus stated: "The Condemned is a morally ambiguous, exceedingly violent and mostly forgettable action film."[3] As of April, 2020,Metacritic gave the film a score of 23 Out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4] Reviews ofThe Condemned included complaints of plot holes, overly preachy tone, lack of plot progression, hypocritical morals, poor fight choreography and one "fake" wrestler.
V.A. Musetto of theNew 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 ofBattle Royale andThe Most Dangerous Game.[5]
One of the few positive reviews came from Michael Booth ofThe Denver Post. He described the concept as "The Truman Show meetsCon Air" and makes positive notes about thereality 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]
The film debuted with a $3.8 million 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.
On September 18, 2007,The Condemned was released on DVD and Blu-ray. Opening at number four,The Condemned brought in $6.5 million in the first week. Overall, it has sold an estimated 1.185 million DVD units earning $22.7 million.[7] The DVD made its release in theUnited 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.
A sequel titledThe Condemned 2 starringRandy Orton was released on November 6, 2015.
In 2006, the company worked on the WWE feature film The Condemned in the Sunshine State[dead link]
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.
The Deadliest Game has played out many times on screen, including with Arnold Schwarzenegger in a post-apocalypseThe Running Man, but rarely is it aimed as squarely at the pitfalls of pop culture as inThe Condemned.
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