User reviews

PRISON RIOT is another B-movie thriller set in a violent prison, where an undercover cop is gunning for revenge against the crime boss who had his family killed. Although Dolph Lundgren features predominantly on the box art, he's actually playing in support here, with the main role given over to unknown actor Matthew Reese. There's also a third character, played by Danielle Chuchran, who seems to have been added to the mix to bring in some female-on-female action.

Inevitably, the plotting and narrative of PRISON RIOT aren't up to much, but the focus is instead on plentiful action sequences. And the good news is that they're pretty good. Gone are the lumbering, slow fights of many a 1990s-era straight-to-VHS fight flick; instead, we get martial arts-themed bouts that have clearly been inspired by the likes of THE RAID. I'm talking multiple opponents and weapons, actors being thrown around the sets, and mucho violence.

Things culminate in a large-scale prison riot - as the title would suggest - which doesn't disappoint. Yes, the acting is rather wooden, with only Lundgren bringing some of his trademark charm to the proceedings, but when a film offers up a wealth of hard-hitting action it doesn't matter too much. Given that I'm a massive fan of THE RAID, any film which seeks to imitate that film is okay in my book, and PRISON RIOT hits the mark nicely.

I will be short and blunt! This movie is not a blockbuster hit but for what it is it is done quite well. You will see lot's of people criticize it but it has a story which I would rate 6 out of 10. The acting is not the greatest but I love Dolph (4 of 10). The special effects are better than a lot of movies that say they spend more than what this movie cost (6 of 10). The main antagonist and protagonist are both exceptional fighters and the fight scenes are done really well. (7 of 10). All in all it is a decent action movie. If you are looking for the best special effects or acting then you won't like this but if you know you are watching something just for entertainment purposes and not expecting a lot of jazz then this movie is worth watching!

Best part of this movie was Chuck trying to do a Russian accent...the longer he has to talk the more it goes leans towards Colombian, very funny.

You could honestly miss large chunks of the movie and still know what is going on.

Not good, but not bad either.

Chuck Liddell's accent is terrible, and completely unnecessary to the plot (there's no reason for him to be Russian for the story to work).

The producer/lead actor seems to be a good martial artist, but man, he can not act. That's probably okay, though, nobody else in this movie really can, either.

The dialog is awful, but as with many action movies, it really only exists to move the story from one action sequence to the next.

The most unforgivable thing about this action-centric B-movie is that the action is atrocious. I don't know if the choreographer is blind, or has just never seen human beings move before, but these fight scenes had me laughing.

I gave 2 stars instead of one, because the plot is one I haven't seen before. It's not THAT different from other prison movies, but the reason for the antagonist being there is a neat idea.

A pretty bad movie that I decided to watch because I enjoyed Dolph Lundgren in 'ONE IN THE CHAMBER (2012)' and I also enjoy prison movies so despite the low rating I thought to myself: why not?

But despite the fact that Dolph Lundgren's face covers about 80% of the poster for the first half of the movie he is so far from being the lead, heck for the first 27 minutes he doesn't even have any lines and is limited to just sweeping the floors (literally with a broom).

I expected him the Russian kingpin, but nope he plays a mysterious quiet inmate with janitorial duties.

The kingpin is played by Chuck Lidell who for the record is on the poster, and I guess that's okay cause he is the actual bad guy of the movie but the main 'hero' of the movie is not even on it, played by Matthew Reese.

So yeah anyways even if you look aside all that it's a pretty boring movie, we've seen it all before but usually a lot more exciting.

They manage to throw in a even more so boring sub-plot about a news reporter on the outside as well and one about a female prisoner in the female department of the prison which feels like it was added just because it wouldn't be a long enough movie focusing on just Reese, Lidell and (ocassionally) Lundgren in all honesty.

All in all wooden acting by pretty much everyone doesn't help... Makes 'VENDETTA (2015)' with Dean Cain and The Big Show look like a prison- movie classic in comparison.

Why are you giving this crap high ratings? Are you blind? Have you even seen this garbage?

If there was a score for failing every aspect of an action movie, this one would get 10/10. My kid's kindergarten yoga class has more action.

There is no point of discussing acting, directing, script, etc.

Avoid! Even if you just want to pass the time, avoid!

And Dolph, is this how you want to be remembered? You used to be something, man...

'RIOT': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Action flick starring Matthew Reese, Dolph Lundgren, Danielle Chuchran and former UFC champion Chuck Liddell. It was directed by John Lyde; and written by Lyde and first time feature film writer Spanky Dustin Ward. The film tells the story of a police officer, that purposefully gets himself arrested; in order to take down the imprisoned Russian kingpin that murdered his family. The movie's clichéd, but it has it's moments.

Jack Stone (Reese) is a cop, who's obsessed with revenge against a Russian kingpin, named Balam (Liddell); who had his family killed. Balam runs his business from behind bars; in a heavily guarded prison cell. So stone stages a bank robbery, just to have himself arrested. Once he's locked-up, he finds aid from two undercover cops inside (Lundgren and Chuchran).

The movie offers nothing new in the form of originality, or clever filmmaking. The stars are entertaining to watch though, and the fight scenes are decent enough. It's not a film you'll probably remember for very long, after you finish watching it, but it is a fun time while you're viewing it. It's at least as entertaining as I was expecting it to be.

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The last few Dolph Lundgren flicks have been rough going (specifically the Serafini ones like BLOOD OF REDEMPTION), so I entered RIOT with expectations lower than usual. So it was nice to see it actually putting forth some effort. It is essentially a vanity project (lead Matthew Reese's name appears 3 times in the first 30 seconds) and you have to suffer through UFC fighter Chuck Liddell - sporting a huge HGH belly - doing one of the worst Russian accents in the history of cinema (not an easy feat!), but the filmmakers came up with a twisty plot, some cool guard costumes and did some interesting fight choreography (which was obviously influenced by JOHN WICK and THE RAID films). Not a Dolph- classic by any means, but a decent 85 minutes.

Worst fight scenes since Andersons marionations. Ie wooden and unconvicing.

I liked this movie from start to end. There is no special depth to the plot but for an action movie it was quite good. There were no unrealistic scenarios, not much exaggeration (some but not in the way where you would just stop watching) in fight scenes and no unrealistic "taking over the prison" stuff, it was plain and simple and what's better, it was believable. I really like the part Dolph Lundgren played in this movie and he played his character really well from the beginning. Although Matthew Reese is a leading actor and main protagonist in this movie (and he played the part quite well), Dolph Lundgren's performance and character left more impression on me while i was watching it. Give this movie a chance, and I think you'll like it.

Capable action director John Lyde's Meth house mean, Teflon tough, nuts and bolts actioner is wound up tighter than most. And without shaming names, very few 80s action icons have maintained a convincing career as an authentic alpha butt-kicker into the noughties, and perhaps none, excluding JCVD remain quite as beloved as towering Thug-trashing titan Dolph Lundgren. Appropriating the hard-time tested trope of vengeful cop deliberately incarcerated to ice the skell that done him so fatally wrong, the formulaic 'Prison Riot' plays rather well in spite of its generic B-Movie premise, strongly bolstered by yet another strong performance by mountainous mancake Dolph Lundgren, with dynamic pretty boy Matthew Reese agilely executing the plentiful, close quarters fight scenes with remarkably explosive aplomb!

'Prison Riot' is an exceptionally boisterous Grindhouse blend of gritty prison flick and fleet-fisted 80s-era Kung Fu B-Movie beatdown that is given additional spice by including plentiful bodacious-looking catfights! The fully jacked, vengeance-seeking cop Jack Stone (Matthew Reese) makes for an energized protagonist, and many of the film's bruisingly efficient fight scenes enjoy a 'Raid'-like intensity, and the deadly delicious stud Dolph proves there's considerably more life in the ol' Lundgren yet! Famed MMA fighter Chuck Liddell makes for an okay-ish snarling B-nemesis, but Lyde's bone-bustingly bellicose actioner pretty much belongs to the charismatic Dolph, and excluding his 2005 epic 'The Mechanik', 'Prison Riot' is a terrifically teeth-rattlingly treat for Dolph fans old and new!

I find that if you want to be an action star, all you have to do is produce the movie that you star in and pay to have some lower level, but fairly well-known, washed up celebrities to appear in your movie.I have no idea who plays the main character, but I wanted to watch because of Ivan Drago, I mean Dolph.

Overall, it was okay. The action was fine, the story was fine, but this would have been 1 or 2 stars higher if I didn't have to listen to Chuck Lidell's incredibly horrible take on a Russian accent. Seriously, he sounded like a Mexican born in South America but raised in Uzbekistan. Seriously, every time he talked I wanted to just fast forward through that part of the movie.

I guess if you can stand listening to the Iceman butcher the accent, you might enjoy this movie quite a bit.

Another month and another Dolph Lundgren VOD movie. An ex cop stages a bank robbery in order to be caught and jailed in the same prison as the ruthless Russian mobster Balam (Chuck Lidell), so he can get revenge against him for killing his family years earlier. Matthew Reese (who you've probably never heard of) is the star of the show here, although you'd never know it as all the promotional material suggests that Lundgren and Liddell are the co-leads despite the fact they're barely in it! Director John Lyde made the action/apocalypse/fantasy films Survivor and Curse of the Dragon Slayer, and manages to cobble together some decent action and fight scenes into a movie that's just an excuse to show people beating one another up. The plot is ludicrous, as are some of the twists, but then what do you expect from a script written by a Spunky Dustin Ward?

Terrible stuff, it was more a parody/comedy if you ask me rather than anything else.

Fight scenes are something horrendous, the plot is... There isn't one. Bam bam bam, a little bit of dialogue than bam bam over and over. To make matters worse, acting is also on the bad side. Reese is ridicolous, Liddel is full of cheesy quotes, Lundgren is alright, but the role he plays in this movie is just "what the hell". Everything about this movie was parodish and if it was a parody I could give it a higher rating, but no they really were for real about this film. Also, the camera people did a bad job aswell. And probably the funniest stuff of everything is the body movement and being hit reactions out of all, oh and yea, one more time I gotta say, Reese doesn't fit the "hero" role, he's plain awful.

Avoid this movie, but if you don't have smarter stuff to watch or do, still avoid it, it's around hour and a half of wasted life.

I don't want to pick on "Riot". It's a low budget action movie and it does a pretty good job, I guess. It held my interest while it was on but as soon as it was over it pretty much left my memory banks.

Premise is thin, action is choreographed well. Not a bad movie. Not a classic but I was entertained...

No no no, just NO. I can't even begin to, ok, its supposed to be a comedy I think, but its funny for reasons that were not intentional. I wasted enough time on this movie, two hours I'll never get back. This will be my shortest review ever. Hard NO.

I've seen more than enough of John Lyde's pictures to know he is a capable filmmaker, even if he chooses to operate on the level he does (TV movies and similarly minded second- or third-tier fare). I'm familiar with several folks with small parts in the supporting cast, who for better or worse were the names that drew me to watch this in the first place (Melanie Stone, Danielle C. Ryan, Renny Grames). I'll watch just about anything (also for better or worse). I suppose there was no more or less potential here than in any other movie, and it's passably enjoyable in much the same way as any title can be so long as it isn't abjectly rotten. Is all this enough to deserve viewership? I guess that depends on each individual; for my part, I think it's okay if you come across it, but unless you're a huge fan of someone involved, there's no major reason to watch.

Not all Lyde's features are equal, and when one is weaker than another, it's hard to tell if it's a question of a lacking screenplay, a bad day on Lyde's part, or something else. Duly, basically entertaining as 'Riot' is, its value arguably comes and goes in accordance with the appearance on-screen of those actors we already like. There are a lot of fight scenes and stunts, and they look fine, but often lack a certain finesse. I generally like the production design and art direction. The hair and makeup work is pretty swell; suitable as the costume design is, given the setting, it's not exactly revelatory. The more explosive the effects, the less believable they are (including some establishing shots of an unremarkable cityscape), but the simpler ones look great. I could do with fewer flashbacks, and even beyond this the plot is communicated with less than perfect passion or care, but such as it is the story and its characters are ably written and engaging. The dialogue is much less impressive, and the scene writing is a little blunt or on the nose, but so it goes.

Just as the film at large is rather uneven, it also informs the acting in a like manner. I think some cast members do a really fantastic job; Ryan and Stone in particular are clearly having a blast, and that spirit is passed on to the viewer - though again the bias of my favor may be showing. Supporting cast members, especially those portraying random prisoners, are less noteworthy, though it's probably not their fault. And so on, and so on. It's not that 'Riot' is bad; I believe it's competently made in most every regard, and the cast surely make the most of what they're given to work with. To the credit of all involved, the titular ballyhoo in the last quarter definitely got the most attention of any aspect of the picture, and the cavalcade of fights we get in the last stretch is more well done than anything else in these 90 minutes. Still, it's just that there's not truly anything special about it; watch it or not, your day will be the same. Is this worth ninety minutes of your time? Sure, why not. Is there any critical need to check it out? Not at all. It's decent enough to be "average" overall, and for the average moviegoer the fight scenes are probably the best reason to watch. Maybe that's all 'Riot' needs to be.

Was an enjoyable, if somewhat predictable movie. Some of the characters were a little obvious in their place in the film, but with one like this it's to be expected. The core characters for the most part though, were decent. Actually, if you count a couple of little things to pick apart (like grabbing a weapon to lead a swat team - in a suit), and that's stuff that many major movies do also, well that's why it's a movie. The only issue I had really, with the movie as a whole, were some of the action sequences. There were times when watching them where it felt that you were watching the choreography being rehearsed instead of a full-on fight scene. There were plenty of stuff left to the imagination, a lot of back story that you just get a vague overview of and are left to just take on faith that Yep, that's why this is this way, and that's why this is this way. If you can overlook those things though, it was exactly the kind of movie it sounds like, and worth a watch on a weeknight when you're bored.

I should have taken the bad reviews very literally, because they were accurate in their judgement. I do, however, believe that these reviews are nicer than they should be. The acting was subpar at best and the directing was poor as well. The plot of the movie could have been great if not for the bad acting and the poor directing.

To make matters worse, the worst acting is coming from the main characters. Specifically the man whose face is the biggest on the poster along with the russian kingpin. The action in the movie was also worse than subpar, it was abysmal.

In conclusion: the bad acting, abysmal action, poor directing and overall low budget production, this movie was a large waste of time and a huge disappointment.

10 out of 10 do NOT recommend.

An excellent movie full of action. Original story. It keeps you wondering all the time what will happened. When you think that it is going to finish. Surprise: The movie explodes with more action. Is like every minute is more intense. Also It is no brutal or gore. Is more like, the bad guys are going to be kicked. But the way, the secuenses of scenes are brilliantly selected. If you can, watch it. The prison is like hell. The kingpin control almost everything. It is a place full of risk. The three main actors, did a great work. Including the undercover agents. It isn't a sad movie, you don't need to go deep in sentimental expressions. But you can understand the pain and motivation.