Ultimate Force (2005)

Ultimate Force (2005)- * *

Directed by: Mark Berson

Starring: Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic and Ruza Madarevic

A man named Axon Rey (Cro-Cop) could just rest easy in life, secure in the knowledge that his name is Axon Rey. One night, he gets tranq'd while walking in the park. He wakes up in a strange science lab where he seems to be undergoing cyber-brainwashing of some sort. He now has to go on missions for S.I.N. (the State Intelligence Network, which, judging by the meatheadedness of Rey, might be an ironic name). He now has the code name of "Sphinx" and said Intelligence means beating up a series of opponents. In the midst of all this, Axon Rey or Sphinx or Cro-Cop or whatever the hell his name is reconnects with "lost love" Sari (Madarevic) and they plan to escape the evil clutches of S.I.N. forever. But can they do it? Does Axon Rey or S.I.N. wield the ULTIMATE FORCE?


Support your local police: be pro-cop. Support Axon Rey and Watch Ultimate Force: be Cro-Cop. Or something like that. According to AI, there are about 50,000 titles (both movies and TV series) on Tubi right now. Ultimate Force is...one of them.


Sure, Cro-Cop doesn't talk much, but why is that a problem? When John Wick has minimal dialogue, everyone thinks it's great. Cro-Cop looks like a cross between Vinnie Jones and Ray Stevenson and is an MMA fighter. He lacks the charisma of a Bas Rutten, or of various types of pine, spruce, or oak. But you're not watching Ultimate Force to see a master thespian at work. You want him to punch and kick people, presumably. That he does, and there are these intercut little bits that look like they're from a 90's CD-ROM game that say "Damage" or "Fatal Damage". Even though the film is from 2005, it was shot in Croatia and they probably don't have up-to-the-minute effects tech. The techno soundtrack also sounds like it's from the 90's. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you to decide.



It's like a less-hyper Gunblast Vodka (2000) or less-crazy Diamond Cartel (2015), in that sense. It has that depressed, eastern European feel that's beyond even what's shot in Bulgaria. But those two films don't have "fire wipes" in between scenes, which have a very "My First Editing Machine" feel to them, like at any moment Homer Simpson will say, "Star wipe and we're out!" There is also some "fast motion", as we call it. We don't mean to come off harshly regarding Ultimate Force, but once you get to the point, as we have, where you've watched so many action films you've gotten to Wayne Crawford and Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic movies, you just have to kind of put your hands up in the air and say, "Yeah, okay. Here we are", and just go with it.



That being said, we still get some classic cliches. Notably, dialogue like, "We go a long way back, you and me", and "He's the best!", and scenes of Prerequisite Torture of the hero. Sure, all of this has a sort of sci-fi twist involving an AI robot of sorts named Caesar, but somewhere in the mix, elements that used to be integral to filmmaking, such as dialogue, plot, characterization, decent lighting, and, not to get greedy, but emotion, surprises or twists, got lost along the way, it seems. Maybe that's what happens when you make a whole 90-minute film around a name, and an MMA name at that. This becomes especially evident in the final third of the film or so, when there is no action whatsoever. Is that because writer/director Burson thought the audience would want to spend this time watching Cro-Cop attempt to act? It's all kind of funny in its way but also quite confusing.


Not to be confused with the Ross Kemp TV series of the same name, Ultimate Force is not exactly a must-watch. MMA fans or the more masochistic among you may want to dare these strange waters. If you stay tuned until after the credits, we get a James Bond-style note: "Axon Rey will return in..." Although, to date, that has not happened, it comes off as more of a threat in this particular case.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty