'The Condemned' simply isn't a great film, due to its subpar acting, mostly predictable plot and average other aspects like the cinematography. However, I can't deny it still makes for solid action viewing. Just to be enjoyed for what it is.

With that said, it actually does have an interesting concept - one that is kinda fascinating. The film commits to it fairly well, hitting many correct notes in regards to the morality of the matters at hand. I also didn't think it would take such a dark-ish tone with it all.

Steve Austin is decent in the main role, he is no Dwayne Johnson or even John Cena but he has the right look for a beefed up protagonist. Vinnie Jones is Vinnie Jones in this, he's exactly how you'd expect him to be. The rest of the cast are largely forgettable, though Madeleine West actually gives the film's best performance as Sarah - despite only appearing in a minor part, I felt her character's feelings. It's also cool to see Rick Hoffman in a role pre-'Suits'.

If you just want pure action with loads of fighting, this is one for you. The second act and the last remnants of the ending drag, but it's largely a fun watch if you don't take it too seriously.

Co-writer/director Scott Wiper overestimated how many people would pay to watch a webcast of ten convicts forced to fight each other to the death on a desert island, same as WWE overestimated how many people would pay to watch a movie about such a webcast.

At least the webcast, even with its supposed 30-hour runtime, presumably doesn’t cut away from the action, such as it is, to secondary subplots and tertiary characters not on the island — it's as if Jurassic Park said, "let's go see what's happening some place else where there are no dinosaurs."

“Jack Conrad [Steve Austin] is awaiting the death penalty in a corrupt Central American [Salvadoran, to be exact] prison” (IMDb). So corrupt is this prison that Jack would be the first person executed in El Salvador since the early 70s. I don’t know about cruel, but that would certainly be unusual punishment.

Jack is spared this fate by Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone), a "billionaire" TV producer, and taken to a desolate island where he must fight to the death against nine other convicted murderers of multiple nationalities. Each has an ankle bracelet/time bomb, complete with the trusty old Red Digital Readout counting down the 30 hours mentioned above.

These bombs are the only thing that comes close to 'thinking outside the box', especially since they can be activated by removing a pin; however, the onscreen execution, as it were, leaves a lot to be desired, and even if it were done right, it would still grow old fast, considering that it's the most common method of killing (accounting for 30% of deaths among participants).

Worst of all, Wiper unforgivably squanders the opportunity to have one of the characters amputate his own foot and use it as a makeshift grenade grenade (Nathan Jones is also in this movie, because one bald former pro wrestler apparently wasn’t enough).

I wouldn't call this a flop but I certainly can't recommend it, either. My biggest complaint - apart from the sub-par acting - was the fact that many (if not most) of the fight scenes were entirely too busy or too dark to really enjoy. Fights during the night, fights inside a cave, fights in the darkest parts of a jungle....or just fight scenes that were terribly choreographed and not filmed well at all. I understand it would have made for quite a bit longer film time if they had tried to build the backstory of EVERY player, but there was very little backstory on anyone. Lot of loose ends left hanging, as well. I'd like to say _"Watch this for the fighting, if nothing else..."_ but honestly....it's not even worth watching. Maybe it was just me but just the **IDEA** that someone could - and would - livestream the brutal rape and killing of women...I was pretty surprised and disappointed in the WWE that they would put their stamp on something like this. (By the way, before you sickos get excited and rush to tune in, there's only _implied_ rape...no graphic scenes or anything like that. Cool your jets, you freaks.) I wouldn't - as I've had to in far too many other movies - call this _"a waste of my evening"_ but I certainly wouldn't watch this again. It's just low-budget bad, and not worth seeing.