DVD Review: 'Ultimate Fights' kicks up a flurry of action

    Overflowing with blood, guts, guns, severed limbs and hooker brawls, Flix Film’s DVD compilation of movie fight scenes, “”Ultimate Fights,”” is John Liebermann’s worst nightmare.

    In “”Ultimate Fights,”” Flix masterfully pieces together well-designed transition sequences with scenes from such violent classics as “”Scar Face,”” “”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,”” “”Gladiator,”” and “”Rumble in the Bronx.”” The result is 54 minutes of action from 16 different movies that plays as one continuous, thrilling experience.

    Flix claims that its choice of fight scenes represents the best displays of violence Hollywood has to offer. Indeed, the DVD sports exhilarating scenes from the aforementioned blockbusters. However, there are a couple glaring omissions, most notably the complete lack of light sabres and Schwartzenegger.

    While the fight scenes themselves provide an invigorating experience, the excitement does not carry over to any other part of the DVD. Most notably, the special features that accompany the fight scenes are, for the most part, pitiful. The supposed highlight of these features, the “”how-to”” on staging a movie fight, is very sparse on detail, and on safety warnings.

    Amateur filmmakers who follow the instructions on the DVD will end up seriously disappointed, or seriously injured.

    Most of the other special features on the DVD, from the audio commentary by noted producer-director Tsui Hark to the text-based statistics on each fight scene, are slightly interesting, but represent a thematic clash from the rest of the DVD. These largely cerebral special features do not belong on a DVD that appeals only to primitive instincts.

    The DVD also suffers technically. Primarily, by only including full-screen video, Flix has thrown to the wayside the DVD format’s amazing wide-screen capabilities. Also, some of the footage is rather old and very obviously needs restoration.

    But dreadful special features and technical quirks aside, the bottom line is that this DVD packs more testosterone per square inch than a Trojan Magnum. But its entertainment value will last a lot longer. As such, the “”Ultimate Fights”” DVD is a necessity for any testosterone-inclined movie buff’s collection. It’ll fit right in between the sports DVDs and the porn videos.

    Ultimate Fights

    ***

    Featuring fight scenes

    from various films

    In stores now

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