Boyka: Undisputed IV (2016)

Boyka: Undisputed IV (2016)- * * *

Directed by: Todor Chapkanov

Starring: Scott Adkins, Teodora Duhovnikova, Alon Aboutboul, Vladimir Mihailov, and Martyn Ford

Boyka (Adkins) returns after a six-year absence in this fourth installment in the Undisputed series. At this point in his life, Boyka has found religion and he spends his time and money at the local church. However, he still lives to fight. This causes tension between not just Boyka and his friend, the Priest (Mihailov), but within himself as well. When Boyka’s agent informs him of a big tournament in Budapest that all his fans, and the media, are waiting for, Boyka senses this will be a big opportunity for himself, so he gets all hyped up. So much so that he accidentally kills his opponent in the ring in the qualifying match for the big show.

With his conscience weighing on him, he makes a dangerous and illegal journey from the Ukraine to Russia to meet his now-deceased opponent’s widow, Alma (Duhovnikova). He tries to tell her how sorry he is, and he attempts to give her his fight winnings, but it’s tough going for them both. The sad part is, Alma needs the money. She’s deeply in debt to local crime boss Zourab (Aboutboul) because she used his money to build a community center where all the children go. She can’t escape because then she’d be letting the children down. She’s slowly working off her debt to the unscrupulous baddie by waitressing at the club where, of course, there are fight tournaments. 

Boyka approaches Zourab and offers to fight in the tournaments to pay down Alma’s debt for her. All the while, the pressure is on because he has to get to Budapest for his big chance. But first he has to get past terrifying man-mountain Koshmar (Ford). Now that Boyka has found redemption with the Lord, will he find redemption with Alma?

With Undisputed IV, we have a bunch of winning elements that all come together. Firstly, and most importantly, we have the great Scott Adkins putting in a terrific performance as Boyka. There is perhaps no other actor working today that could have done what Adkins does here. He has a great Ukrainian accent, his fighting skills are in top form, and there’s plenty of emotion as well. It’s rare that one person can embody both the impressive physicality and the inner feelings Adkins does here. It’s extremely well done. Then we have the other actors backing him up, who also put in fine performances, we have the plot, which allows for not just bone-crunching action but also the aforementioned emotion, and of course the fights themselves, which are very well-executed.



As far as the fights go, we can see all the moves and there isn’t all that fast cutting that can be found in many DTV Punchfighters. With Adkins, that sort of stuff isn’t needed – and, in fact, hinders what you can really see him do – and thankfully the filmmakers realized that this time around. A rather strange and unnecessary zoom effect is used in fight scenes and dialogue scenes alike, but it apparently isn’t used to hide anything, instead it seems to be a stylistic choice. Besides not being needed, it marked this out as being a modern-day DTV vehicle, but it didn’t hurt our eyes or anything.



Naturally, the word “Boyka” is said countless times throughout the movie. We could be in triple digits here, but we weren’t counting. Characters say it constantly, and crowds chant it repeatedly. It might be the most oft-said word on screen since Brakus. Or perhaps Malone. But, all kidding aside, Undisputed IV is a movie about redemption, and about how even if you’ve done unfortunate things in your past, you can always redeem yourself in the eyes of God or your fellow man. It’s never too late. Even the name of Alma gives a clue – it means “soul” in at least two languages, and Boyka himself gives alms to his church. This gives the film a certain depth and dimension that sets it apart from others of its ilk and it’s not just a marathon session of meatheads punching each other.


However, if that’s what you want, that is here as well. It’s truly a movie of multiple facets. Could this be the best Boyka film yet? Please write in to give your opinion. But one thing is for sure: the character of Boyka – as expertly interpreted by Adkins – has become so beloved because he’s a fighter with a heart, soul, and conscience. You feel his inner conflict between peace and violence. Somehow this speaks to us as action fans. We don’t want to see anybody on-screen – or be ourselves – one-dimensional. He even has his name above the title this time, and that’s no coincidence.

So, for a movie with a lot of brutal fighting – but also some depth backing it up – Boyka: Undisputed IV fits the bill perfectly.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Savage Dog (2017)

Savage Dog (2017)- * * *

Directed by: Jesse Johnson

Starring: Scott Adkins, Keith David, Juju Chan, Marko Zaror, Charles Fathy, Cung Le, Aki Aleong, Matthew Marsden and Vladimir Kulich

Martin Tillman (Adkins) is an Irishman and expert fighter. His rise to the top of the fight game is severely hampered by the fact that it’s 1959 and he’s in an Indochinese forced-labor camp. So he survives the only way he can - by becoming the number-one champ in the brawls that are held within said camp. These fights are held outside, so all the locals can see them, and Tillman becomes extremely popular. So much so that when it comes time for him to be released, the cadre of baddies that run the camp – Rastignac (Zaror), Steiner (Kulich), Boon (Le), and Amarillo (Fathy) – don’t want him to leave. Of course, Tillman does indeed get out of there but he stays in Indochina to work at a bar run by his buddy Valentine (David) and his wife Isabelle (Chan). 

Naturally, trouble starts when the baddies don’t leave them alone. After something happens (we won’t say what; no spoilers here), Tillman is forced to go on a rampage of revenge against his former captors. As if all that wasn’t enough, he’s also being trailed by a British government agent named Harrison (Marsden) for his supposed former connections to the IRA. Luckily, Tillman was trained to fight locally by a Tribal Chieftain (Aleong). Will Tillman get revenge and show he’s a SAVAGE DOG for the last time?

Thank goodness for Scott Adkins. He really is keeping the flame of the golden age of action cinema alive and burning. If it wasn’t for him, where would we be today? We’d have to fall back on the films still being made by the prior generation of action stars that are still working. Not that that is such a bad thing, but, let’s face it, Adkins has the vitality that some of the older guys naturally are losing over time. It’s fun to watch Adkins because he’s likable and has killer Martial Arts abilities. That formula is necessary for a truly great action star, so it’s no wonder he works so much in the DTV industry. He’s one of the very few men of action out there still left, so of course filmmakers are going to use him if they want to make this type of movie. 

While Savage Dog is indeed a Punchfighter/Revenge Movie, we applaud the filmmakers for at least giving it a setting that is different – the fifties and the former Indochina. That was a nice change of pace. Adkins and David have a nice chemistry together, and the fights overall are executed very well. The whole second half of the movie is simply Tillman getting revenge. That’s what’s good about DTV as opposed to Hollywood – you know they aren’t going to wuss out and revenge will be appropriately violent and bloody.


Nowhere is that more true than here in Savage Dog. For whatever reason – maybe it’s to further separate itself from its competitors even more so than its chosen time and place – writer/director Johnson decided to go not just with the standard action violence, but gore as well. While we certainly weren’t offended by it, it just seemed a little unnecessary. Rather than have limbs and heads being graphically chopped up and mutilated, maybe they could have concentrated a little more on the final fights between Adkins and Le and/or Zaror. If they extended each fight by 30 seconds instead of gore-ing it up, that would have fit the bill just fine. But as it stands, it makes Savage Dog something of an oddity.

A movie that surely lives up to its name, Savage Dog is perfect for Adkins fans, and nicely narrated by David. We say check it out.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett