celtic451 I just finished watching this movie. I don't know how you could give this movie anything other than a 10 rating. Superb acting, production, writing, and very realistic martial arts and fighting. I loved every bit of it. I wish they would make a 2nd one. Michael White was amazing both in acting and fighting. Great story line too. It had motivating subplots and a perfect blend of mysteries in the plot to keep you wanting more. A 10 out of 10 easy on this one. A must see. Michael White's acting was both realistic and moving in my opinion. I actually started to want to be like him. Not just physically but personality-wise as well. He was very smooth purposeful in this movie and just amazing in my opinion. I have to go now so I can go out and buy it.

Comeuppance Reviews Isaiah Bone (White) gets out of prison and ends up renting a room at an L.A.-area house run by Tamara (Gaye). Bone is a quiet and mysterious man, and we don't know much about his past. What we do know is that he's an outrageously talented fighter, and he proceeds to get involved with the illegal, underground Punchfighting circuit. Immediately recognizing that Bone is head-and-shoulders better than the normal street thugs, charismatic fight promoter Pinball (Basco) takes him under his wing and Bone moves up the ranks. This puts him in the sights of James (Walker), a high-class thug with aspirations to join the ranks of the ultra-wealthy, as represented by Franklin McVeigh (Sands). James also recognizes Bone's fighting talents and wants to use him to break into the really big time. But Bone has his own reasons for doing what he's doing, and only his strength and personal honor and integrity guide him through his mission. But will he make it out alive? Blood and Bone is as good a movie you could possibly hope for in the world of the modern-day Punchfighter. There's just enough depth and interesting things going on with the plot and characters to raise it above the muck and mire of the "I-punch-you-you-punch-me-and-that's-it" Punchfighters out there. Seemingly, it's a movie out of time, as we felt this could have come to the movie theater, had it only been released in 1997 or so. The only things that mark it as new are some brief - but still unfortunate and unnecessary - uses of CGI. Otherwise, the plot has a nicely familiar feel, and Michael Jai White makes a powerful hero.As for MJW, we've always been huge fans. His Martial Arts abilities and screen presence have only continued to improve since Ring of Fire III (1995) and Ballistic (1995), which is rare. It's a joy to watch him execute his moves. One of the great injustices in life is that Steven Seagal is more of a household name than White. White deserves to be in the action pantheon with Dolph, Van Damme, (and unfortunately, Seagal). His appearances in two of the Universal Soldier movies make sense towards that aim, but it seems MJW is primarily known in the action community. We feel he deserves wider recognition. As for fellow fan favorite Gina Carano, she has a criminally small part. It would have been awesome to see her team up with MJW to take down the baddies. Maybe someday that will happen.As for Julian Sands, you might ask yourself what he's doing in an urban-themed modern-day Punchfighter. His one scene where he verbally faces off against James should answer all your questions. One of the things that make Blood and Bone a worthwhile movie, besides its pleasantly surprising spurts of intelligence at times, is its sense of humor, which is well-portioned out. We don't know if this was on purpose, but in a throwback to the Blaxploitation movies of the 70's, all the Caucasian characters are just lightweight, silly, stereotypical whiteys. The Punchfighter "Cowboy" is just a "redneck" stereotype, the white family that eats dinner with James wear sweaters around their necks and listen to Wang Chung, and Julian Sands is the whitest person on earth. It's hard to discern whether the tried-and-true plot line and some characteristics of the movie are homages to the past, or just a simple lack of originality. That's the danger of homages, the audience might misunderstand your intentions. The Hitter and Lionheart seem to be primary influences.But just as in all great movies, Blood and Bone gets its own title song during the end credits. Seeing as how it's a competently-made film with just the right amount of depth, and you really have a hero to root for in MJW, we feel that Blood and Bone is one of the better modern-day Punchfighters out there.

A_Different_Drummer First, this is not one movie but two. The first is a standard drama about a mysterious stranger that comes out of nowhere to extract vengeance for .. whatever. No offence to the writing team, but we've seen this before. I think Van Damme alone has done this about a dozen times. It's not bad, mind you, but there is nothing in the drama portion of this film that would make you stand in line to see the movie. Which brings us to movie no 2, the fight movie. Now a martial arts is an entirely different kind of movie, and its success rests with two factors, the building of the suspense and the quality of the skills of the lead. Bruce Lee understood this perfectly and if you do your homework you will find that the film he was working on at the time of his death was about "structured" fights where each fight built on the next to a grand finale. The best fight films of our era -- the first Rockies, ONG BAK 1 (not the rest), and the early Van Dammes all understand this principle. Ever Warrior, a great fight film, gets it. (The Chinese don't and many Kung Fu films from China miss the boat). Now, if you are still with me, you probably suspect that BLOOD AND BONE has one of the best fight structures in film, therefore putting it as a contender for greatness. Which leaves the lead actor. To make this one of the best fight films ever, you would also need an actor who is not only credible but moves like the wind and gives the impression he could actually make the moves in real life ... if he had to. And that brings us to Jai White. Why this guy never become a fight legend, I don't know. Hell, Stallone is still fighting on the way to pick up his pension checks, so it can't be age. But he is the real deal, and this seems his best star performance. Actor plus well structured (pyramided) fights equal one of the best fight films of all time

Gatto Nero A great role for Michael Jai White. The storyline and plot reminded me of one of my all time favorite films, Hard Times (1975) with Charles Bronson in a very similar role as a street-fighter set in the 1920's. Bronson also knocks out opponents with one punch! In fact Dante Basco is doing the James Coburn role, Eamonn Walker is doing the Michael McGuire role and if that's not enough, the final fight of White vs Matt Mullins "Price" is just like Bronson vs Nick Dimitri's "Street"! Plus both films have a character named "Hammerman"!! The difference of the Hammerman's is that in Hard Times, the Hammerman played by Frank McRae was a big enforcer type and in Blood and Bone ,he is Eemonn Walker's top fighter played by Bob Sapp.Though in Hard Times, Michael McGuire had a bald top fighter named "Jim Henry" played by the late great Robert Tessier. And in this one,, Eemonn Walker's "James" also has a bald top fighter ! All in all, I enjoyed this remake/re-imaging of Hard Times. If you are into some good Martial Arts action, then check this one out. And also check out the original!