Blood and Bone

Now, what could a buffed-up ex-con do when he gets out of jail? Why, get into illegal underground fighting business, of course. The ex-con is Isaiah Bone (Michael Jai White), and of course his motives remain hidden for a large portion of the film. This may also annoy some of you out there, because you’ll just have to accept Bone is fighting without an apparent reason. Well, anyway, the first fights are small ones, but he soon goes up the food chain where the big boys play – into a 5 million USD battle with the undisputed champ Price.

This was directed by Ben Ramsey, who wrote "The Big Hit" which is awesome. He also wrote "Dragonball Evolution" which is not awesome.

Well, the story is nothing new and you’ve seen it all somewhere before. The difference is, “Blood & Bone” does not put such an emphasis on fighting, or perhaps more accurately – the fights are kept real. And I'm aware I used almost the same words to describe "Damage" because the two films are very similar. Bone’s opponents usually go down with one or two punches. Nobody does gravity defying acrobatics. They even kept the one-liners to a minimum. And not only that, but a few well known MMA names make their appearance: Bob Sapp, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano. Sapp has a real role, while the other two are just cameos.

Of course, the character Bone is flawless in his baddasery. He’s a master tactician and martial artist, an expert swordsman, but also a philosopher and a skilled chess player. And MJW’s buff as I had ever seen him. The man looks like he could knock an elephant out. It’s also nice to see him in a leading role for a change.

Others aren’t really worth mentioning, except the antagonist, James, masterfully portrayed by Eamonn Walker. The man was a beauty to watch, and he made James look very charismatic. You don’t usually get this kind of performances in B-films.

All of this makes “Blood & Bone” a great pick for anyone looking for some fun kick-assery. Me likey.

Rating: 8/10

- review by Ventilation Shaft

Rating: 4/5

I’ve had this to watch for about a week and I finally decided to put the film on, and well I must say I enjoyed the heck outta this one! Blood and Bone is a low budget martial arts film, and it is a good one.

It tells the story of an ex-con Bone (Michael Jai White), he enters into underground fighting with the help of Pinball (Dante Basco). He comes across crime boss James (Eamonn Walker), and there is more then meets the eye with what Bone has planned.

I pretty much knew nothing going into this film, just that it starred Michael Jai White and it was a martial arts film. Mucho thanks to my bud from Hollywood Raw & JoBlo J.A. Hamilton for mentioning and recommending this film, cheers!

The opening scene for this film is fantastic, I wont ruin it, just that it takes place in prison and it sure as heck will grab your attention. Michael Jai White made for a fantastic leading man, his martial arts skills are mind-blowing, and the man is a solid actor. He was very real and believable in his role, and I just wanted to hang with his character more and more. When a film does that, it is certainly doing something right. He had this really great chemistry Basco, I thought at first the Pinball character might be annoying but he wasn’t at all for me. I liked him, and he was quite good (Basco I remember as Rufio in Hook).

As I saw the credits, I saw a few names pop up that surprised me, as I had no idea they were in this film. Julian Sands, I don’t think I had seen him in anything since 24. He didn’t have a big role but he played the ass hole nicely. I have always been a fan of his (I know alot of people out there don’t like him, but he’s never bothered me.), and he worked for the role. Eamonn Walker who I loved in OZ played the bad guy, I haven’t seen him in much lately (Maybe the last thing was Lord of War). I was looking forward to what sort of role he was playing, he has a really great screen presence, and while he over acted in some parts I liked him in the role, he was very effective.

If I had any cons about the film, I would have actually liked it to have been a bit longer and expand upon the Bone character a bit more. But overall this was a really good film, and I think I will watch it again down the track. I think I need some other Michael Jai White film recommendations, I really dig the guy.

 (Written on Oct 1 2009, first published on SuperMarcey.com)

Last updated: 2010-02-22 03:56:41 by SuperMarcey