Now, if you don't see where this is going, I don't know what to tell you. It is terribly predictable and hits all the expected notes, never for a moment treading the deeper waters around the edges. It sticks to the safe and predictable path trod by similar movies that have come before.

Let's add in the goofy friend, desperate for attention and begging for a beat down, the girlfriend now championing the side of right, the mother so desperate to understand, and the lonely fight trainer with a secret. With these added players, the bigger picture should become a bit more clear.

This film is just a slog from start to finish. The formulaic plot is laid out early on and the filmmakers are sure to hit every note with predictable regularity. Not once is the audience given a reason to care. There are references to The Iliad, overtones of maturity and battling personal demons, but nothing ever goes deeper than the surface. Our hero is so bland that he is essentially a non-entity, a background player in his own film.

The biggest question is: are the fights any good? The short answer is no. With the structural and formula comparisons to Step Up 2, the dancing there is much better than the fights here. The dances make that film fun and worth seeing, injecting the energy needed to win over an audience. The fights here are as bland as the combatants.

Director Jeff Wadlow seems to have approached the film rather tentatively. He may not be a great director, but he did show some flair with his last film, Cry Wolf, with an interesting take on the slasher film. Here, he does not bring any of that flair; the resulting film has a nice glossy sheen, but beneath the sheen is emptiness. This shallow film is not done any favors by the script from Chris Hauty, whose only other credit is Homeward Bound II.

Bottom line. There is not much left to say, this film fails to deliver anything resembling real entertainment. The fights are lackluster, the acting is bland, and there is no reason to become invested in the plot.

Not Recommended.