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Cast: Randy Spence, Adonis Williams, Christina Rose, Brandon Wardell, Michael Iakovou, Rob Alicea, Anatoli Grek, Lazzarus Powell, Khalil Maasi, Sophia Polanco
When Iraq War vet Johnny Brown returns home from combat, he takes one look at the drug problem strangling his old neighborhood and decides to open up a mixed martial arts school to redirect kids' energies. But local drug pushers don't like his plan. And now that Johnny's school is siphoning off his clientele, a powerful drug lord who's also Johnny's childhood friend leaving him with no choice but to take action.
Circle of Fury may lack some of it's fighting choreography but the story and characters make up for it. Not that the fighting scenes are bad, they look natural which is a good thing but a few times you can see the lack of realism in swings and hits. Still over-all they are good enough for a film like this. The story is interested enough, Johnny Brown is an Iraq vet who after coming home finds himself on the street with nowhere to go and no job. He meets up with an an old childhood friend who offers him a job running one of his smaller gyms but Johnny doesn't know at first that his friend is also a drug dealer and also puts on fights for money. I am not going to go into details about it but Johnny also seems to be running from his past, something that happened during the war, it plays a big part in the film as it effects his decision making towards the end of the movie when it matters most. The story and characters certainly carry the film, Johnny is looking for redemption and at the same time work and place to stay but little does he know what his friend is up to when he agrees to run the gym. The acting here is pretty solid for an Indie film, Randy Spence is very good as Johnny and Adonis Williams pretty much steals the show as his drug dealing friend.
Circle of Fury takes a genre that has been done over many times before and it adds a characters you care about, a story that engages the audience and some nice fight scenes as along the way as well. A story of one man with a past that gets pushed to the limit and is forced to fight back the only way he knows how...in the ring. I enjoyed this film and recommend it to any fan of the genre. You can order Circle of Fury of DVD HERE and you can also rent the film from OnDemand through mid November so be sure to check your local listings.
Released by Maverick Entertainment
*** 1/2 Out Of *****