For much of human history the statement that ‘might makes right’ has been axiomatic. The strongest not only will survive but they will dominate the surroundings. Over the years this has been the foundation for many movies; usually with high impact action flicks. One of the latest in this particular genre is ‘TKO’. Some out there may have heard of the movie under its release name of ‘Urban Assault’. This is a by the book, testosterone driven flick where some of the toughest guys in town are called upon to enforce order in a city gone wild. Sounds familiar? Pretty much the same movie has been made every few years for quite awhile now. It was about time for another try at the story. With the exploding popularity of violent video games a film like this has a whole new audience ready to watch and enjoy. This is one of the new generation of action flick. It is no longer enough just to show men fighting, car chases and explosions. The violence has to be explicit; up close and in your face. This also requires a different set of rules to judge such a flick. The main question at hand is whether ‘TKO’ meets the new genre’s requirements. There is plenty of violence, it is bloody and the action is almost non stop so the answer would have to be yes. As with the vast majority of these films this one is targeted at the high school to college male demographic. This is not a date movie guys so don’t try to get your girlfriend to watch it. This is best viewed with the guys over a pizza and a few beers; non alcoholic beverages required for the under aged guys, of course.

This is an action film written by committee. It has three writers listed in the credits. The first is Christopher Curran and this is his first screenplay although he did executive producer the slasher film ‘Final Examination’. Next is Joe Miale. He has more experience with two short film scripts to his credit along with working as a producer, editor and director on a few other films. Last there is Declan Mulvey who also directed and produced this film. He knows action from both sides of the camera having worked as a stunt coordinator in several flicks including this one. The story is nothing complex or involved. The city is in chaos with criminals taking over every aspect of life there. An underground fighting tournament is to be held to separate the true champions from the pretenders. The story is little more than a scaffold to give an excuse for the fight scenes. Considering the demographic they are after this shouldn’t really matter a whole lot. It is reminiscent of all the fight to the death underground contest flicks that have come before.

As a director Mulvey gets right to the action and keeps the pace up very well. There are only a few dead stops to allow a little dialogue and attempt to develop some sort of relationship with the lovely female lead. Mulvey knows what his audience is watching for and he gives it to them. Since he spent a good portion of his career in the stunt world he makes sure his friends have more than enough high octane stunts to keep the guys watching interested. He also made sure that the male leads were populated by mix martial artists, wrestlers and other people used to the arduous stunt work presented here.

You don’t have to wait long for action here. As the opening credits are rolling there is a montage of fight scenes that will be fleshed out later on in the flick. The first real scene is that of a SUV stopping; a woman exits followed by an Asian man, Lin (Fernando Chien) with a police badge around his neck and a man who looks to be affiliated with a street gang. On her tight jeans just below the cut off top of the woman, Herrera (Heidi Marie Wanser) we can see that she has a badge as well as is the apparent gang banger. They are followed out of the car by a very large, imposing bald headed man, Mick (Daz Crawford). They go over to the back of the car and open the trunk. Inside is a very scared man. The officers pull him out and take him to the edge of a pier asking if he is a strong swimmer. One man ties a bucket of dried cement to the frighten man’s leg. The man is Mouse (Lemar Knight) and he has some information the officers want and they are not shy about demonstrating the lengths they are willing to go to get it. To emphasize this point they take out a container of gasoline. In a bit of overkill they then beat Mouse with baseball bats since he was unable or unwilling to tell them the location of the man they are after. Last year Mouse helped to fix a fight with his brother Zendo (Andre "Chyna" McCoy) for Mick. Mick needs to get a message to Zendo in the worse way now to stay away. Zendo is now retired and out of town unaware of what Mouse did. They then set Mouse on fire. Mick is sure that Zendo is too proud not to come back for tomorrow night’s tournament with avenge his previous loss. Now that his younger brother is dead Zendo will be out for blood. The remainder of the flick is pretty predicable with Zendo training for the big fight, the beautiful young woman getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and the criminal master mind and the corrupt cops out to retain control of the city.

I have to admit that this is the perfect cast for a flick like this. Chyna is a well known martial artist who trained with the best that Hong Kong has to offer. He was also the stunt double for Lawrence Fishburne in the Matrix films. He can also hold together a scene with his acting ability which is something not all stunt men turned actors are capable of doing. Most of the male actors here are from such physically demanding fields as football, mix martial arts and boxing. This is a cast that you do not want to mess with. The film is packed with action that more than makes up for its predictable plot.

The DVD release of the film is from Lion’s Gate who has a reputation for independent films of all sorts. This is a very good choice for a guy’s night and will not disappoint the action fans out there.