This film is laughable. And I don't mean that's it's funny. On the contrary, it's not worth the film stock it was shot on. One look at this rotten film and you'll be asking yourself "What exactly did they spend the $50,000 budget on?" I won't even discuss the cardboard actors that sleepwalk through their performances that must have been shot on the first take. It's a wonder that Ernie Reyes sr. even agreed to be involved with this garbage project. The fight scenes are poorly edited and pretty much amount to Ernie Reyes jr. throwing the same old tornado and flying scissor kicks in some effort to convince the audience he's the star and all eyes should be on him and his beefy pecs. Even Ernie Reyes sr. seems to have lost a step or two as his fights are so deliberate and sloppy that you'll cringe at the first lazy kick he throws. This film seems to depict all martial arts experts as either con artists, drug peddlers or cocky show offs that never avoid a fight. After seeing this film, I have lost ALL respect to the Reyes' whom I had admired and respected for so many years. As a taekwondo expert myself, I have to say, this offers nothing positive for any martial artist or film buff for that matter. In fact, after seeing this hack of a film, I have less hope for humanity. If this was the lost arc, you should listen to Indiana and just shut your eyes.
7 Reviews
Shame on Ernie Reyes Jr.
diggler_inc29 January 2003
Ernie Reyes Jr. and Sr. made a film with no moral integrity. They make drug dealing look like a decent way to make a living and try to make smoking and cursing like a sailor look cool. They did have a lot of catholic imagery in the film so i guess it is ok to be a bad person as long as you read the bible. Also, there are some weird scenes that involve the villian cross dressing. This being said some of the fight scenes were pretty good.
Biggest piece of crab ever made
kevintempel17 December 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Well the cover looked grate, but the film was pure sh.... Can't say it nicer. Really who came up with such a stupid story. Other filmmaker in the world is trying to get funding, then people get money to make sh... like this? the people giving this film funding must really be angry and feeling misled. I mean a Hitler with transvestite attitude and jerking off while in the middle of a fight etc. This film should never have been made, it destroys the market for real filmmakers.
And what was used to film it, handy-cam? the story was a big bag of crap and the actors really could have been better, some OK, but the one playing "Hitler" have been doing to much school-plays or theater not film. Well he sucked anyway. A real waste of money. Well people should buy it and burn it.
And what was used to film it, handy-cam? the story was a big bag of crap and the actors really could have been better, some OK, but the one playing "Hitler" have been doing to much school-plays or theater not film. Well he sucked anyway. A real waste of money. Well people should buy it and burn it.
We can't wholeheartedly recommend it, but The Ultimate Fight might work for you if you're in dire need of some "Kimo-therapy".
tarbosh2200015 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
When Pinoy (Inocalla), a Martial Arts fighter, leaves his home country of the Philippines for the first time and heads to Seattle in America, he gets more than he bargains for. He ends up meeting Jesse (Reyes Jr.) and befriending him, and ends up in his circle of buddies, all of whom love Martial Arts. But there's a problem: a man who just happens to be named Hitler (Nemec) is a cross-dressing drug kingpin who is using the Crazy Dragons gang to do his bidding. Hitler's bodyguard is one Kimo (Kimo), a guy who isn't afraid to use his scary bulk at the drop of a hat. Eventually, Jesse and his buddies must face off against the Crazy Dragons and stop Hitler's drug running. Can they do it? With the storyline of the rural Asian fighter coming to the big city and impressing everyone with his skills, try to imagine a much, much, MUCH stupider Ong Bak (2003). The Ultimate Fight is an extremely amateurish, even babyish movie. With its many scenes in the backyard (or interior) of a house, it seems like if you gave a 5 year old a crayon and paper and asked him to write a movie script, and the kid was into Karate, this movie would be the result. The Ultimate Fight suffers from many things: its low budget, a horrendously written script, stilted performances and disjointed editing. We seriously want to give every benefit of the doubt to this movie, but the weight of its sheer dumbness is overwhelming.
As for Corin Nemec...maybe Parker Lewis couldn't lose, but Nemec certainly can. His self-consciously "wacky" performance is not quirky, it's just annoying. His over-the-top mugging gets tiresome fast. His hand movements even have that cartoonish "whooshing" sound, but it's just insulting to Isaac Florentine. But it might be all worth it for a scene where he's talking to his African-American drug associate on the phone, and he says, in a cool, casual and laid-back tone, "Hitler, my man." It's not everyday you hear those words coming from a Black man. Nemec's performance might be at home in a Troma movie. To see an awesomely OTT performance, check out Sam Jones in In Gold We Trust (1991).
In the positives column, there is some cool Martial Arts, including some stick-fighting, and they even use the term Arnis, which we learned when we watched the movie of that name. There are a couple of classic meatheads, including a goon with a face so square he gives Howie Long a run for his money. There's a scene in a game room which is cool because our hero uses all the things in the room to fight the baddies, including a pair of cleats, leading to the new phenomena of "Cleatfighting". In the plot department, there's some half-hearted attempts to add some Jesus references, but none of that makes much sense. But that's the overall problem. The Ultimate Fight becomes hard to watch because it's not really a cohesive movie, it's more a collection of random scenes that aren't connected to anything.
This movie was originally entitled The Process, and when you watch it that makes sense because characters say those words many times. But it was retitled to cash in on the emergence of UFC at the time, which Kimo was involved in. The box art features the classic The Wild Pair (1987)-esque formula of son-funny name-father: in that case it was Beau Bridges-Bubba Smith-Lloyd Bridges, now it's Ernie Reyes Jr.-Kimo-Ernie Reyes Sr. Plus the tape is printed in this weird gloss that makes it hard to read, but somehow they managed to paint/superimpose a knife in the hand of a certain character. But it's not all bad, as there is a trailer on the tape for the Steve Guttenberg vehicle Airborne (1998).
We can't wholeheartedly recommend it, but The Ultimate Fight might work for you if you're in dire need of some "Kimo-therapy." For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
As for Corin Nemec...maybe Parker Lewis couldn't lose, but Nemec certainly can. His self-consciously "wacky" performance is not quirky, it's just annoying. His over-the-top mugging gets tiresome fast. His hand movements even have that cartoonish "whooshing" sound, but it's just insulting to Isaac Florentine. But it might be all worth it for a scene where he's talking to his African-American drug associate on the phone, and he says, in a cool, casual and laid-back tone, "Hitler, my man." It's not everyday you hear those words coming from a Black man. Nemec's performance might be at home in a Troma movie. To see an awesomely OTT performance, check out Sam Jones in In Gold We Trust (1991).
In the positives column, there is some cool Martial Arts, including some stick-fighting, and they even use the term Arnis, which we learned when we watched the movie of that name. There are a couple of classic meatheads, including a goon with a face so square he gives Howie Long a run for his money. There's a scene in a game room which is cool because our hero uses all the things in the room to fight the baddies, including a pair of cleats, leading to the new phenomena of "Cleatfighting". In the plot department, there's some half-hearted attempts to add some Jesus references, but none of that makes much sense. But that's the overall problem. The Ultimate Fight becomes hard to watch because it's not really a cohesive movie, it's more a collection of random scenes that aren't connected to anything.
This movie was originally entitled The Process, and when you watch it that makes sense because characters say those words many times. But it was retitled to cash in on the emergence of UFC at the time, which Kimo was involved in. The box art features the classic The Wild Pair (1987)-esque formula of son-funny name-father: in that case it was Beau Bridges-Bubba Smith-Lloyd Bridges, now it's Ernie Reyes Jr.-Kimo-Ernie Reyes Sr. Plus the tape is printed in this weird gloss that makes it hard to read, but somehow they managed to paint/superimpose a knife in the hand of a certain character. But it's not all bad, as there is a trailer on the tape for the Steve Guttenberg vehicle Airborne (1998).
We can't wholeheartedly recommend it, but The Ultimate Fight might work for you if you're in dire need of some "Kimo-therapy." For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
This is down right horrible
rdamian196324 May 2021
The Process of confusion
actionfilm-229 March 2010
Sadly, this is a less than stellar effort from those involved. As Ernie Reyes Jr. is star and director of the film, putting him front and center, I can only say the film gives the impression of one confused individual. This being made back in '98, he's hopefully recovered from whatever ailed him. Characters and situations are all over the map, and there is a very malicious anti-authority and anti-religion tone to the film, though it's worth noting that 3 years later, Reyes starred in The Secret of the Horse, a short film with a pro-Christian message, whether it was simply work for hire or change in his belief system I don't know. At any rate, the usually sharp fighting technique Reyes has displayed before is absent here.
As noted elsewhere, there is little in the way of morality to be found in any of the characters or the film itself. This in and of itself isn't always a problem. But usually we witness an arc of some sort, for example Blood Diamond's mercenary character, the aging gangster in Charlie Valentine, or the cold hit man in The Killer, all undergo a redemption of sorts. Even when there is no apparent arc, for example Lee Marvin in Point Blank, Mel Gibson in Payback, Benicio del Toro and Ryan Phillipe in Way of the Gun, or Warren Oates in Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, the main characters are of interest and manage to avoid being one dimensional.
Of course, all of the above are exceptional films so you may not think it fair to compare them to The Process, but I'm not since to do so would be ridiculous, I'm simply citing why the lack of morality fails to work in this film. Which may all be a moot point as sadly, the film pretty much fails on all counts.
As noted elsewhere, there is little in the way of morality to be found in any of the characters or the film itself. This in and of itself isn't always a problem. But usually we witness an arc of some sort, for example Blood Diamond's mercenary character, the aging gangster in Charlie Valentine, or the cold hit man in The Killer, all undergo a redemption of sorts. Even when there is no apparent arc, for example Lee Marvin in Point Blank, Mel Gibson in Payback, Benicio del Toro and Ryan Phillipe in Way of the Gun, or Warren Oates in Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, the main characters are of interest and manage to avoid being one dimensional.
Of course, all of the above are exceptional films so you may not think it fair to compare them to The Process, but I'm not since to do so would be ridiculous, I'm simply citing why the lack of morality fails to work in this film. Which may all be a moot point as sadly, the film pretty much fails on all counts.
Get with the Process buddy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This movie was Awesome!!!!
The_Copper_Dragon13 May 2003
DANIEL MANIA COMMENT #14
It's not often that one can find a diamond of a martial arts film for only $5.99 or $6.35 for you IRS loyalists. I don't know what other users were talking about! So the Reyes family were not pure good guys and every character in the movie appear to be on somthing. If anything, it gave the movie a different feel and variety from all those other martial arts hero flicks. After all it was acting for gods sake! Basicly the movie was a sort of unarmed less killing version of "The Big Hit." This is truly a must see for a true martial arts fan and hey, at least it better than a Black Belt film. My favorite characters were the Secretary and Jesse, who reminded me alot of my best friend Jonathan. All and all the techniques were solid, the choreography was great, and the movie was also a terrific comedy. The only problem I found with this one was a timing and precision contact problem with certain flying kicks. All in all the movie was a wonderful display of martial arts, immoral behavior, and heart attack comedy. This was definitly a 10/10 and better than a great lot of $22.99 dvd films and if a martial arts movie fan fails to see that then they are truly lost!!
P.S.- And really, who ever said a great film had to be morally sound!!!
Daniel K. Nelson
It's not often that one can find a diamond of a martial arts film for only $5.99 or $6.35 for you IRS loyalists. I don't know what other users were talking about! So the Reyes family were not pure good guys and every character in the movie appear to be on somthing. If anything, it gave the movie a different feel and variety from all those other martial arts hero flicks. After all it was acting for gods sake! Basicly the movie was a sort of unarmed less killing version of "The Big Hit." This is truly a must see for a true martial arts fan and hey, at least it better than a Black Belt film. My favorite characters were the Secretary and Jesse, who reminded me alot of my best friend Jonathan. All and all the techniques were solid, the choreography was great, and the movie was also a terrific comedy. The only problem I found with this one was a timing and precision contact problem with certain flying kicks. All in all the movie was a wonderful display of martial arts, immoral behavior, and heart attack comedy. This was definitly a 10/10 and better than a great lot of $22.99 dvd films and if a martial arts movie fan fails to see that then they are truly lost!!
P.S.- And really, who ever said a great film had to be morally sound!!!
Daniel K. Nelson
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