The Condemned
Lionsgate | Release Date: April 27, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
23
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
4
Negative:
19
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
67
Entertainment WeeklyMarc Bernardin
"Battle Royale," if you've never seen it, is a fantastically sadistic and unapologetically brutal Japanese film from 2000 about miscreants dropped on a jungle island with orders to kill each other for a reality TV show. The Condemned is pretty much the same thing with half the satirical wit and twice the number of wrestlers. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyLuke Y. Thompson
Flaws, double standards, strange detours and all, this is still the most entertaining WWE release to date. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The Condemned isn't post-modern junk, smirky junk, faux junk or clever junk. It's pure junk, with a certain integrity to it. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The film keeps adding layers of superfluous nonsense to its plot until all that's left is glowering ultra-violence and a whole lot of missed opportunities. Read full review
40
Film ThreatZach Haddad
While it sounds interesting on paper, the follow through is less than entertaining... unless you like unintentional humor. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
There are stretches when it becomes tedious and insufferably self important. There's even a late scene in which the movie turns preachy. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Steve Austin is conspicuously inarticulate and uncharismatic. Former soccer lout Vinnie Jones, whom no one will ever mistake for Laurence Olivier, acts rings around him. Read full review
33
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A sloppy, indifferent action movie with a sadistic edge and a sour hypocrisy. Read full review
33
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
A catastrophically messy action-movie mash-up. Read full review
30
VarietyDennis Harvey
Picture aims for nonstop thrill ride, but for all its brainless brawn, it has plenty of stops and few real thrills. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It's hard to imagine an audience that won't break up in laughter at this bewildering mixed message: Enjoy this movie, but you really shouldn't be watching it. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
As an actor Austin is still a lightweight, but Rick Hoffman (Hostel) fleshes out a recognizable character. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMichael Ordona
Condemned is, if nothing else, an object lesson in how to punish women for fun and profit. But it's all for a point, the filmmakers would have us believe. One suspects that's a point of sale. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A real stinker. It doesn't have the courage of its own bad taste, or that of its villain. Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This is the worst kind of movie, one that insults its audience by purporting to condemn violence while simultaneously reveling in it. Read full review
25
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The wrestler carries himself with decency and without self-seriousness, the qualities that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star. Austin deserves better material than this. So do we. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
At what point does The Condemned turn from a stupid-fun action movie into something unpleasant and hypocritical? Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
It is hard to say what is more despicable about The Condemned: the overtly racist portrayal of Brekel-Goldman as Jewish-media bloodsuckers, or the film's sleazeball attempt to pass off lovingly attentive sequences of ritual torture - often scenes of incredible hulks bashing cowering women - as a critique of media violence. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
D-grade "Running Man" ripoff. Read full review
20
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
Tailor-made for those who like their violence multifaceted and their women monosyllabic. Read full review
12
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Just watch Austin on "WrestleMania" instead, avoiding the shower this movie leaves you wanting. Read full review
12
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The film is smugly hypocritical at every turn, loudly preaching the evils of sick voyeurism while encouraging its audience to cheer every gruesome death. It's not only morally bankrupt but, between the ludicrous script and Z-level acting, scrapes the bottom of the entertainment barrel, too. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Wiper doesn't exploit the possibilities of his setting, so the only conflict is the fighting, the only suspense comes from waiting for the next character to pop out from behind a tree and do something possibly interesting. Read full review
0
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Sickeningly violent and inane movie. Read full review
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