Rent Fight Valley (2016)

Fight Valley review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Fight Valley is perfectly titled for what it ultimately is, a mindless exercise of an MMA showreel. And it certainly does show off some exceptionally strong women in tough scenes and empowering feats. But this film exudes the bodybuilder stereotype of containing more brawn than brain. To be clear, I don’t expect a whole lot from a straight-forward action revenge picture, especially if acting-bereft MMA fighters are involved. But, wow, does Fight Valley fall flat on its back in this easy arena.

The film takes place in a dangerous part of Camden, NJ. Tori Coro jumps into an underground fighting league of such a violent place and receives a fatal thrashing. With her body abandoned in the woods, speculation begins about what happened to Tori and a likely suspect of a location is the dangerous neighborhood of Fight Valley, known for brutal battles that generate income. It’s up to Tori’s sister Windsor to probe Fight Valley for the whereabouts of her sister. However, in order to search the mean streets, she’ll have to mean herself. This leads to her team-up with the expert fighter and gym-owner Jabs agreeing to train the investigator in the ways of street fighting. Maybe with enough practice, Windsor will be ready to kill the murderer of her sister.

The fierce fighters on display are that of Miesha Tate in the role of Jabs, Cris Cyborg as Church, Amanda Serrano as Vivian, Holly Holm as Payton Walsh and Katlyn Chookagian as (yes, I swear this role is real) Parking Lot Fighter. And they make no allusions as to what they’re doing in this movie. Their acting is subpar but that’s not what they’re here for, despite being front and center. They’re here to show how much they can kick ass and use that footage for extra-spiffy padding on their demo reels. This is especially true of Cris Cyborg who, no joke, where’s a T-shirt that has her literal name and a link to her website. This is some next-level product placement right here.

The whole film has the cheap sensation of direct-to-video filth. It’s shot more in line with a music video, hapring too much on quick cuts and moody filters. The characters are all blank slates of cliches that are clearly built more for action than anything compelling such as why we should care about these characters and whether we should be lingering on the edge of our seats during their bouts. What little script there is a sloppy soap opera that honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it was a retooled version of the myriad of other Redbox-bound action flicks.

Fight Valley feels like a movie and more as though I’m looking at some promotional content for fighters to be selected by an agent. And given that I don’t own a huge corporation that specializes in contact sports, I have little interest in such advertising material. Maybe one day I’ll be that kinda league owner and will finally see the light.