Knuckledust

Quite a likeable action flick that would have been a solid hit in the hands of a more experienced director. It's got a pretty interesting story about an underground club conducting fights to the death, where the police break in and find seven floors of corpses and a sole survivor who is taken to the station and interrogated. In flashbacks we follow the main character as he fights a different opponent on each floor. The protagonist is a decent fighter to root for, and there's no doubt he has martial arts skills. The opponents, mostly big scumbags that no one would want to fight, are also interesting. I liked the novel stylization, the dark country-blues music was also fitting, and there are a few minor twists. It's a bit of a shame that there's no gore, it would have been a great addition to this B-movie, but fortunately, there are a few nice fractures and the elevator fight is awesome. If the whole film was focused on going through floors like in The Raid, I'd go even higher with the rating, unfortunately as result the film suffers from unbalanced pace in places. 6/10 (03.06.2021)