Beyond The Ring (2008)

I love this movie so much

Powerful

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Non-actor Andre Lima stars in a story that mirrors his own story as a fighter who has to return to the ring when his daughter develops a brain tumor and he has get the money some how.The non-acting and unimaginative direction (its as rudimentary as you can imagine) kills this film pretty quickly.Its simply too difficult to pay any attention to the non-performances. I know its wrong to criticize people who aren't actors but normally the director can work with an actor to get a performance but here its clear the director either didn't care or wasn't able to try and make the performances into something workable. The only one giving anything like a real performance is Martin Kove as Lima's friend. To be certain it won't kill you if you run across it but its not something to seek out.

This film was a waste of time, acting was poor story line poor, made no sense whatsoever to why they made this film as it had no point. Why did he fight? They could have just made the film in 5 minutes, out of shape fighter's daughter gets sick, insurance won't pay as she is under 18, he starts training and fights underground to get some quick cash to pay for her, he loses, his dad gets money from lawyers as they fight with insurance. WOWOWOWOW amazing... thanks for wasting my time.The whole point of watching films like these is to get somewhere, the hero kicks ass and wins or dies after kicking ass. This has no story whatsoever and no point.The worst part of this film was the final fight, fight start he get's smacked then he starts to kick ass and as the other fighter is on the floor he turns his back on him and starts to cheer doing so leaves him open and ZULU the other fighter knocks him down with 1 final punch... common... who the hell would do that, if you are a champion black belt and have 3 black belts in 3 different fighting styles you get told never to lose eye contact with your adversary.You wanna see a kick ass film go watch anything that has Tony Jaa or Jet Li:):) 1 star is generous, I would give it a -minus rating if I could.

I just watched the film. I think for a low-budget movie is way more than I was expecting. I think Andre Lima did a great job as a main actor. He is not a professional actor and he put himself in this big challenger. People need to have heart and "balls" to be in front of a camera and do the best they can. The director Gerson Sanginitto did a great work directing Andre Lima with Gary Busey and Martin Kove. I think Mr. Sanginitto has a great future as Director. The little girl Jessica was awesome! She should have a bigger part next time.I want to congratulate this small production. I been around this industry for long time, I know how hard is to produce a film and make until the end and see the final product. A lot people never finish the end line.

I knew this was a low-budget independent, and I did keep an open mind before I watched it, but still it was disappointing and downright funny at times. Being a fan of martial arts as well as MMA, I have nothing but respect for Mr.Lima for coming out and making a movie on the genre. However I was misled by the cover; there was two fierce-looking fighters, one in a standing armbar, but this scene was not found in the movie at all. The acting was indeed mostly wooden, but Andre came out as a pretty likable guy.The biggest letdown was the lack of action scenes and slow pace. There were lots of scenes that I found pretty pointless, and some of the "fights" were downright hilarious. For example there was a decent sparring practice between Andre and an Asian grappler, everything went well as they showed good technique transitioning from submissions to submissions and escapes, but out of nowhere, the Asian guy does a front flip when being pushed off by Andre. This isn't Drunken Master or a Jackie Chan flick, such fancy moves as well as jumping spinning kicks are really unnecessary. Besides, mainstream Hollywood movies do it better anyways. The plot also has some serious issues, I didn't really understand it at all nor do I understand why Gary Busey took the role in this movie, he looked completely out of place. The ending was also pretty weird, I didn't get it at all but I did feel pretty relieved to finally see the credits.This movie isn't completely without positives though, there's just very little. Jennifer Chu was very fine, too bad she doesn't do more movies because her on-screen presence far exceeds other exotic-looking Asian actresses, such as Devon Aoki (i am going to kill myself if i have to hear her call Paul Walker "Bullet" again). *Some* of the fight scenes, which were all sparring and practice except the last one, were okay. Being a Taekwondo master, Andre Lima display some impressive kicking, but again most of it is flashy stuff that we see all the time in mainstream flicks. I also can't get over the fact that the movie looked an awful lot like an advertising campaign for Lima Taekwondo Schools, which was blatantly displayed at the beginning when they showed the kids training, as well as Andre's family members taking part in some of the roles, such as Jessica (Aycka Lima) who seems to be her daughter or niece. I have no problems with fighters and martial arts masters selling themselves in some way, as they do need to make a living just like anyone else, but I don't think Mr.Lima will be getting a call for an actor's role very soon. Taekwondo is fairly common, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the art that's on the rise, and Andre doesn't display it enough in this movie. Beyond The Ring has nothing on classics like Bloodsport, because there is a serious lack of passion on Andre's part. When it comes to fighting, which is basically his entire life, he just seems like a robot despite executing his kicks with impressive technique. Andre Lima should stick to being an instructor, and possibly a martial arts director or stuntsman.