No Exit aka Fatal Combat (1997)

Tagline:

It's illegal. It's immoral. And it's always deadly.

Back of DVD:

Professor John Stoneman teaches at the local university. John's philosophy is non-violence and he tries to handle every situation without hurting anyone. His way of life changes when he kills the punks who attacked his wife, causing her to lose their baby. The incident comes to the attention of Houston Armstrong, a reclusive billionaire who illegally broadcasts fights where opponents have to kill or be killed. John is kidnapped by Armstrong's men and imprisoned at his place high above the Artic Circle where the fights take place. There is no chance for escape, no mercy and No Exit. In John's first bouts he refuses to kill his opponents, but will he change his mind when his wife's life is on the line again?

Movie Review:

No Exit is another tournament fighting movie. There sure seems to be a lot of these; I guess the plot is tried and trusted. I don't think it's had a DVD release outside of Australia so I guess this is fairly unknown, but I will say on the outset that there is not a great deal to say about it. Jeff Wincott is unintentionally amusing throughout but otherwise this is very standard stuff.

As the Back of DVD paragraph above states, Jeff Wincott plays a professor at a university. A young student, Jason Samuels, arrives in a darkened room looking to sign up to a course. Wincott appears from the shadows and starts calling him filthy names and generally losing his shit at Jason for no reason. The whole time Jason just repeats that he is a third level black belt in tae-kwon-do and threatens to fight back, but doesn't. Then the house lights come on and reveal an audience of students. Wincott explains that this was a demonstration of violence and hatred, if that wasn't fucking obvious, and how violence is a bad thing. I never knew universities took thirty week courses with the result being a Masters degree in essentially anger management, but Wincott teaches said course.

Wincott's pregnant wife arrives to take him home, but first they check in at the hospital to check on the baby's progress. As they leave for the car park Wincott realises he has left his credit card inside and goes in to retrieve it, leaving his wife at the car. This of course is when a gang of five thugs show up and attack Wincott's wife. When he returns he tries his "violence is not the answer" routine but with that not working, kickboxes four of the guys to the ground. The fifth holding his wife hostage with a knife won't be bargained with and stabs her in the stomach. Wincott unleashes the fury and knocks the guy dead to the ground, but it is too late for the baby.

Jason shows up to give his support to Wincott and the missus during this trying time but they are both accosted by guys in suits who beat them unconscious and take them in a car to an unknown facility. Here we meet Houston Armstrong, the owner of an underground TV show called "No Exit", a show where combatants fight to the death in various arenas for the amusement of wealthy Japanese businessmen. Wincott like Ghandi tries to use non-violent resistance but this just gets his arse kicked at every available opportunity. The first lunch in the mess hall turns into violence when the reigning No Exit champion, Darcona, takes both a dislike to Wincott and a liking (if you catch my drift) to Jason. Lunch trays are thrown, bodies are beaten, etc.

In his prison style cell, Wincott meets another combatant, Doc, who patches up his wounds. He tells him that you have to fight to win and you have to kill, or you will be killed. Ever the buddhist, Wincott says he will not kill. Wincott is taken to see Houston to explain himself and the guy is just sitting there meditating surrounded by candles and really hamming up his performance. He's not a bad evil villain, but he's pretty much just a fat sack of crap.

We get to see a couple of fights early on, with the first being Doc and a random we don't know hitting on each other in a cage to the tunes of a guitar power ballad. Doc manages to beat the guy and runs to the end of the course, breaks a glass window and retrieves a keycard. He slides the keycard over an arm band he is wearing, says "I'm sorry" to the other guy who then explodes for the viewers at home!

Wincott also teaches Doc some breathing techniques through a pretty lame display of tai-chi in their wrestling costumes. It's all a bit... fruity. Wincott gets his own fight with a guy in an electrified cage, fighting with electrified poles. He beats the guy by pushing him into the electric fence, but still refuses to finish him off. This refusal to play by the rules causes rifts within the No Exit management and Wincott has to be taught a lesson, so the obvious thing to do is give his friend Jason to Darcona to be used and abused as a sexual plaything. Wincott annoyingly still refuses to kill so the Houston has to find other weaknesses of Wincott's to exploit.

There's a couple of fighting and training montages to more power ballads - one is actually called No Exit - and the movie ends exactly how you think it will end. It's doesn't really excite and barely manages to raise a smile out of me. This isn't really worth your time, though if it's on late at night or you see a DVD or VHS for $2 like I did, I guess you could do worse. It's not particularly cringe-worthy (except for Wincott's tai-chi faces) but neither is it particularly memorable. I made it to the end with only checking the time twice so I guess that's something. I will give Wincott the benefit of the doubt however as he showed a bit of skill, and some of his other flicks like Martial Outlaw, The Killing Machine and Deadly Bet look like more fun.

And watch out for that trailer below, it basically shows the entire movie including the finale.

The Video:

Standard affair here. Soft but generally pleasing full screen picture, clear stereo audio. Nothing outstanding at all but it's not an outstanding movie. The trailer below is widescreen so I'm wondering if we're missing out on a correct aspect ratio DVD. Runtime 92 minutes.

Sourced From:

Dick Smith for $2.

Trailer:

More Screens: