The Circuit 2 (2002 Video) User Reviews

"I want to know if you can fight"

[The_Phantom_Projectionist · 5/10 · 19 January 2016]

The B-movie snob in me claims that ever since Isaac Florentine released his UNDISPUTED sequels, there's really no reason to branch into other prison fight flicks. Such snootiness was probably justified for the below-average Olivier Gruner vehicle THE CIRCUIT, but less so when it comes to that one's sequel. THE CIRCUIT 2 makes a genuine effort to address the shortcomings of its predecessor and is definitely the better movie, though its considerable faults will probably make it a waste of time for viewers who aren't already fans of the low-budget fight scene. Gruner fans ought to definitely investigate.

The story: When his significant other pays dearly for investigating an organized prison fighting circuit, the returning Dirk Longstreet (Gruner) goes undercover as an inmate to break the secret to the world…and exact revenge.

As far as prison flicks go, this one is pretty tame, with minimal exploitation and even a noticeable lack of outright brutality when it comes to the brawls. The utilization of the cast is likewise a soft touch: in addition to Olivier, the lineup's comprised of B-grade butt-kickers Lorenzo Lamas, Jalal Merhi, Michael Blanks, Shaun Benjamin, and Gary Hudson, and while Lamas, Blanks, and Hudson mix it up physically, they're definitely not being used to their fullest extent. Blanks' involvement is particularly disappointing, because he's set up as a strong supporting character but ends up not doing more than fighting. The storyline is straight-forward but still has time for the occasional fruitless detour and goofiness: warden Benjamin impresses on Gruner his need to have a dominant white champion to appease the supposedly racist audience, but this never seems to be an issue, and later there's an unintentionally humorous scene wherein Gruner engages in an hours-long foot chase with the main fighter (Jim Shagen).

There's a *lot* of fighting in this movie: only counting the fights that last at least ten seconds brings me to 21 separate brawls. Their quality is a major step up from the abortive scraps of the original feature, with an admirable variety of fighting styles on display, some choreographic highlights, and a satisfying scene wherein Gruner and Lorenzo Lamas team up to fight some thugs in a parking lot (it's a funny juxtaposition wherein Olivier is clearly giving his all but Lamas dispatches opponents with customary ease). Gruner looks legitimately skilled and powerful, like a UFC competitor, and faces a unique roster of opponents including a high-kicking Larnell Stovall and a whip-wielding Robert Chapin. Nevertheless, I can't point to a single encounter as an objectively great fight. Many of them are one-sided, and even moments of directorial ambitiousness are diluted by poor camera-work and editing. The film climaxes with a tournament, but it's meaningless because most of the matches are over so quickly that you hardly have enough time to distinguish between the fighters.

Still, I give the cumulative package a passing score, and with the final installment to the CIRCUIT trilogy unlikely to receive a North American release, we can at least say that the west's exposure to the franchise ended on a decent note. Fight fans can easily bear it on a slow night, and fans who enjoy Olivier's work mainly for the kickboxing ought to be happy with this. Don't go out of your way for this one, but don't give it the cold shoulder, either.

"Easy man, you don't want to kill him"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 4/10 · 18 October 2020]

"Circuit 2: The Final Punch" wasn't as there was 'Circuit 3: Final Flight' which also wasn't as there was a TV series after that. As to 'Circuit 2' itself, well there's a great deal of fighting, mostly in a prison yard, but it is worse than 'The Circuit'. Partly due to there being no Billy Drago and Brian Genesse. and the revenge plot one has seen a million times before. The payoff is underwhelming. The flailing final fight on the beach is funny as Dirk and Pike don't seem to be landing any blows. Olivier Gruner's acting hasn't improved though he is still in great shape. Lorenzo Lamas only has a minor role sadly. No excitement to be found here. Though Nino Cappuccino is excellent as 'Parking Lot Thug.'

There's a certain dullness about the movie.

[tarbosh22000 · 4/10 · 3 January 2013]

Dirk Longstreet (Gruner) is a school athletic coach and dog lover, and has the pride of knowing he has the most awesome name in town. His girlfriend Nicole (Harris) is an newspaper reporter, and her latest assignment is to find out the dark secrets of Ogden Correctional Institution. While there, she is attacked so badly she's put into a coma. Dirk, with the help of Nicole's editor Max (Lamas), working as his contact on the outside, decides to enter Ogden and get to the truth. But the corrupt guards are running Punchfighting matches, known as "The Circuit" - they even compete against other prisons' illegal underground Punchfighting Circuits like it's some kind of NCAA seed. But Dirk is an able fighter, and he's going to have to be to take on the reigning champ, the evil Pike (Shagen). What will happen to Dirk - and what will happen to Nicole? We may never know! The Circuit 2: The Final Punch, even though its subtitle contains the word "punch" (a surprisingly rare thing, even for Punchfighters), it's surprising that there are actually THREE Circuit movies. Why? Can anyone answer this? Anyway, as you've already surmised, it's a combination prison movie/Punchfighter, but it's no In Hell (2003). Olivier Gruner (or is it Daniel Bernhardt, I can't really tell anymore...) is fairly solid in the immortal role of Dirk Longstreet, but Lamas is underused here, even wasted. You can tell he doesn't really care, but, in his defense, would you? But his "I don't care" performance is actually appropriate and one of the better aspects of this movie.

Besides the cheapness, unintentional "laffs" and out-and-out stupidity, which gets pretty grating after a while, there's a certain dullness about the movie. Sure, it has a cool training sequence, but that's just not enough. Even the scene where Chino XL and a bunch of his homies show up to the newspaper where Lamas works to say "we don't like what you wrote about us" (hey, it's plausible...doesn't it happen all the time?) is funny, but we can't really tell if it's on purpose or not.

Jalal Merhi, who's in the movie for a few minutes (and literally phones in his performance) delivers, as a director, a movie with an amateurish structure. Plus you can't really tell when the movie is from. Apparently it came out in 2002, but it seems mid-90's. The second half of the movie is largely back-to-back fighting on the beach, strongly reminiscent of The Ultimate Game (2001). When J.D. Rifkin is your role model, there are some serious problems.

As far as the "seedy jail" sequences, most of the major clichés are on show, such as the classic "prison speech" when the inmates first get to Ogden. The prison T-shirts have the name and number seemingly written-on in marker, and Michael Blanks, Billy's brother who also appeared in Expect No Mercy (1995), plays the sympathetic friend to Dirk. But, Dirk doesn't use his own name while in prison, presumably not to sully it, much like how a hand model always wears gloves. He goes by the name "Jim Morrison". Presumably his first choice for a jailhouse moniker, Engelbert Humperdinck, was already taken.

In all, even though the cast is solid, the dumb and dingy Circuit 2 is not. It's not offensively horrible, but we still felt kind of bad for Lamas and Gruner (and pretty much everyone else), because they should be involved with better projects. Did we mention Gruner's name in the movie is Dirk Longstreet? For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Poverty row action

[Wizard-8 · 27 December 2010]

A good action director knows that the best way to start a movie is with something spectacular that will leave the audience in their seats wanting more. "The Circuit 2" starts off with a fight that lasts just a few seconds! Things don't improve that much after that opening scene. I suppose the movie looks good for what must have been a microbudget - there is some location shooting, and the movie looks okay for the most part, though we get stuff like visible shadows of the camera crew, and a hospital room where they couldn't get a hospital bed and used a gurney instead. But the movie has more faults than positive stuff. Despite having Lamas and Merhi in the cast, they are pretty much wasted (if you can call them "wasted" after witnessing their horrible acting). The movie takes forever to get started - Gruner doesn't get to prison until more than half an hour has passed. Movie is poorly edited and directed, with scenes seeming to start midway through instead of having a proper beginning. The story also doesn't make sense at times, with one character suddenly announced that is dead with no explanation why. Some fights later in the movie are okay, but there are times when you feel the participants are holding back instead of going all out. Gruner has made some good movies, but "The Circuit 2" isn't one of them.

Bad

[frankwhat · 2/10 · 19 October 2004]

While slightly better than the first rendition of this series that's not to be taken as a compliment either, only because the first one was just so God awful! The sequel was just as bad, the fight scenes were boring and hosted some of the worst acting my eyes have ever laid sight upon. They seriously might as well just hold the script right in front of them and do a cold reading that's how heinous it comes out. The only thing that this had somewhat going for it was that the plot had a little bit better of a background and could have been turned into something interesting had the right screenwriters gotten their hands upon it. The other part was that there were one or two quotes that were cool, but make no mistake; it didn't save this movie in the least bit. They even brought back those corny tiki-torches for the end fight scenes that were used in the first one that any person can pick up at the dollar store easily. It goes without saying that the body count adds up once again with no one giving it a second thought. I really hope someone eventually breathes life back into the direct-to-video action movie genre soon...it needs revitalization horribly!

Final Queue:

Movies: Never quite made it there, luckily for the rest of us.

DVD Purchase: You've gotta be kiddin' me!

Rental: I wouldn't if I were you.

Disconnected...

[fmarkland32 · 2/10 · 23 October 2006]

Olivier Gruner stars as a kickboxer who goes undercover (Using the alias Jim Morrison) behind bars to take down the bad guys who injured his reporter girlfriend. Also on board is Lorenzo Lamas who doesn't really have much to do. Much fighting ensues in this completely botched fight flick. One of the major problems with the movie is just how ridiculously stupid it is. We have Gruner looking more like Yul Brynner trying to kick ass, completely oblivious to the fact that a fight sequence needs a director who can hold the camera steady. I must admit I watched this movie, only because I found it for one dollar and I admit that the movie had me in stitches at regular intervals. It's just too bad the movie is meant to be so serious because it was just laughable. The fight sequences are also so sloppy and indeed i'm shocked that martial arts experts choreographed this fight sequences. I mean you take a B.grade action flick like Kickboxer 2:The Road Back (Seriously comparing this to even Kickboxer 3, is just too good for a movie like this) and you have fight sequences pumped up with much blood ready to flow. Circuit 2 comes off as if the choreography was done by people who don't know the difference between martial arts and disco dancing. Some unintentional laughs aside this is very bad stuff. However it's frequently hilarious and is a must for fans of goofy cinema. Watch the ending and note that we never learn the girlfriend's fate!

* out of 4-(Bad)

Come on Olivier, you can do better than this......

[gugon0011 · 3/10 · 23 October 2003]

I live in Sweden so it was hard to get this DVD. I had to wait three months for it to come and when it finally arrived I was so exited to see it...now i feel like a fool. The movie starts great, the scene where Olivier talks to his dog is nice and the scene where he saves his student is also great, but then hell breaks loose. The girl who plays Olivier´s girlfriend must bee one of the worst actresses in this decade. She talks whit a silly english accent that more sound like if she is having a could or cotton up her nose. There are many bad scenes in the movie but instead of writing a 10 page long essay about them i would like to speak about the good stuffs...wait a minut...hmmm...cant come up whit any..ohh yeah, the dog scene was good. I like Olivier Gruner, he is one of the best B-movie actors but if he wants to keep making movies that anybody will rent then i suggest that he reads the script before he signs it.

Watching this movie is like being raped by a Priest.

[sikkwolf · 1/10 · 11 June 2011]

Just, don't do it. This movie should come with a warning; "Contains Lorenzo Lamas, may cause herpes". I used to like Oliver Grunner, he was never a big star, never seemed destined to be one. But he was good for some fancy kicks, and ridiculous plots that gave birth to severe @$$ whoopings. After seeing this, I hate him. I already hated Lorenzo Lamas and even if you don't, even if you're one of those people that still claims "Renegade" was a good show... You won't be able to handle this. The acting is horrid, the writing is horrid, the everything is horrid. This is the kind of movie they should force people to watch as part of interrogation, though, thinking about that, I think it would be more humane to water board someone. This movie is so bad it decreased my sperm count.

Poor old Gruner

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 2 March 2021]

A very poor Olivier Gruner, worth watching in case you're a fan of his earlier work and you wonder what happened to him. It's a sequel to THE CIRCUIT, surprisingly enough, although I never saw that one (thankfully). Gruner plays a martial artist whose girlfriend reporter investigates an underground prison fight ring and gets left for dead for her trouble. Surprise surprise, he goes into prison to take down the ringleaders. Once again the likes of Van Damme's A.W.O.L. is the inspiration here, but the fights are badly staged and repetitive, the story non-existent.

Gruner Returns For Circuit Sequel In Name Only

[CitizenCaine · 3/10 · 10 May 2004]

Olivier Gruner, world kick-boxing champion, is at it again in this sequel to The Circuit. I think 3 characters repeat from the original; otherwise, it's a sequel in name only, as its story has nothing to do with where the first one left off. Gruner is still Dirk Longstreet, a college physical education guru, who gets involved in, what else, another low budget circuit with bad acting. This time he goes behind bars to find out what happened to his girlfriend from the first movie. That plot thread is badly handled, and it merely serves as an excuse for us to watch a host of fighters engaging in after hours money fights for the benefit of the warden, etc. Gruner shows off some impressive skills while beating a succession of fighters to a pulp during the fights. The only problem is none of them are worthy opponents. The only two who would be are left with none fighting roles: Lorenzo Lamas is wasted as a reporter that gets Gruner into the prison and Gary Hudson is also wasted as a sadistic prison guard. Director Jalal Merhi again plays Bill the reporter for a total of about 5 minutes. Forget the ridiculous plot in here and enjoy the almost none-stop barrage of fighting, some of it brutal. Gruner looks like a much better fighter in this one than in the original, but the ending is again not that satisfying. * of 4 stars.

You should expect better from the cast and crew

[destroyerwod · 6/10 · 9 June 2011]

Well first thing coming to mind is that the cast is full of B action superstars, i saw Jalal in the Tiger Claws movie with Cynthia Rothrock and he was good, frankly he just put himself in a cameo cause he is the director here, he should have simply stay as the director or give himself a proper role to be honest. This is not like having a BIG NAME such as Bruce Willis as a cameo, he is known only to b action movie stars, so when we see his name we are expecting something. Lorenzo had a few fight scenes, but nothing really impressive, second sigh role to say the least.

Olivier Gruner have skill, but the way this movie is made he can't really show them as it should be. The whole thing just lack something on the action. Either you make the movie bloody and go for the "hard rating" or you put something decent to impress MR EVERYBODY without blood. Problem is with this movie you don't see blood, you don't see violence in fights, but they are not spectacular either. This could had work if they would have go the "Amond Dead Men" way, a movie shot with a tiny budget of under 10 000 bucks, with fights not that impressive acrobatically speaking but they seem so real and brutal cause of the blood...

Then the acting, i am not American so its hard to judge another language on screen, but if my girl would have been raped and beaten to near death, i would not have come to her room plainly asking if she was raped.... I mean the guy should have come, cry, punch everywhere on the room, express his rage or at least show it in a way, but it was hard to convince us he was there to make them pay when he showed little feelings...

Overall a decent story, badly act sadly, with fighting scenes that could had save it but manage to at the very best make it watchable, so i would say the only thing done properly was the training sequence before he go to jail... outstanding, the rest, disappointing.

PS : At the end in the final fight, there is a scene so badly edited i was like "WTF !!!" so i "rewind" back and watch it in slow mo and you think like "oooookaaaay" it was pretty obvious in real time it was bad editing, in slow mo its just ridiculous period... too sad cause it had potential... A little bit entertaining at best... but thats it

The Circuit 2: A muddled disappointing mess

[randl1999 · 28 August 2003]

I have liked Olivier Gruner since his "Angel Town", and have enjoyed, if nothing else, his physical performances and skills over the years. I have also liked Jalel Merhi's pictures, at times, and he, himself is no martial arts slouch. However, in "the Circuit 2", somebody went to sleep in the cutting room. First,it's not well directed, and it appears choppy and disorganized. Loose ends abound. The killing of Nicole took forever, and was bad theatre in the story's context. I mean she was assaulted, raped and in a coma, and one murder squad had already been deflected. The second attempt, only mentioned not confirmed, seemed unlikely, now that hospital and police were alerted and on guard since the first attempt. The denoument at site of the big last fight did not make a lot of sense to me--unless we're going to see "The Circuit 3" Lorenzo Lamas was misused, and what newspaperman goes on police raids armed and shooting? C'mon, Jalel, you can do better.