The Tournament

"Look at you...you're a warrior, gladiator. Men like you don't die in your beds, they fall on the field. They give the crowd a glorious death!" - Powers

release year: 2009
genre: action
viewing setting: home DVD 2/11/23

synopsis: Every so often, the best assassins in the world are put in one place to fight to the death for the amusement and betting of billionaires.

impressions: Neat idea. Some of the "contestants" want to be there to try and get the prize, while others have different reasons. The movie is mainly concerned with two of the best (and some of the others) plus an innocent, alcoholic priest who stumbles into all of this. The idea seems to be that such an event can be held in any major city because all media and police response is under the control of the rich people. Whether that would be true or not, this movie has a ton of fighting, shooting, and explosions.

acting: Kelly Hu is a veteran assassin, and ends up trying to keep Robert Carlyle (the priest) alive despite his slowness to understand and accept what's happening. Ving Rhames is another assassin who's in this one for revenge. Ian Somerhalder is an insane cowboy and ruthless killer. Scott Adkins is a Russian hitman who's also vying for the big win. Liam Cunningham is the organizer/emcee of this insane competition.

final word: The Hunger Games meets Battle Royale meets The Running Man - with hitmen; entertaining.

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