Tapped Out (2014)

A disgruntled teenager, sent to do community service at a rundown Karate school, enters an MMA tournament to face the man who killed his parents.

Director:

Allan Ungar

Writers:

Cody Hackman (story), Jerry Buteyn (story)

Stars:

Michael Biehn, Cody Hackman, Krzysztof Soszynski

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Biehn	...	Reggie Munroe
Cody Hackman	...	Michael Shaw
Krzysztof Soszynski	...	Dominic Gray
Anderson Silva	...	Anderson
Lyoto Machida	...	Lyoto
Jess Brown	...	Jen
Daniel Faraldo	...	Lou
Nick Bateman	...	Matt Cockburn
Tom Bolton	...	Len Riley
Christina Aceto	...	Waitress (as Christina Anne Aceto)
Dante Albidone	...	Karate Kid #5
Anna Alexopoulous	...	Jen's Friend #2
Mitchell Aulis	...	Matt Cockburns Friend
Julie-Anne Barbosa	...	Dominic's Girlfriend / Ring Girl
Casandra Bella	...	Ring Girl

Storyline

One-time martial arts prodigy Michael Shaw is sentenced to community service at a rundown karate school, where he gets back into the discipline of the sport. During a local MMA fight he encounters the man who killed his family a decade ago, and his decision to get revenge involves going behind his karate master's back to train and compete in the upcoming MMA tournament. When he finally goes toe to toe in the ring with his parents' killer he won't stop until the last punch knocks his opponent to the ground, leaving him TAPPED OUT.

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Plot Keywords:

girl in bra and panties | mixed martial arts | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody martial arts fights, violence, language and a sexual image

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 May 2014 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Tapped

Filming Locations:

London, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hackybox Pictures, Tapped Pictures, Cedarvale Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Martin Kove was originally asked to appear in the film as a thirty second cameo in reference to The Karate Kid, but after reading the script he asked the director to write him a bigger part.

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Connections

References The Karate Kid (1984)

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Soundtracks

Sorry For Party Rocking
Performed by LMFAO

User Reviews

A disgruntled teenager, sent to do community service at a rundown Karate school, enters an MMA tournament to face the man who killed his parents.

Review: Story-wise 'Tapped Out' is 'The Karate Kid' meets 'Rocky'; our protagonist Michael Shaw (Cody Hackman) witnesses the murder of his parents as a young boy and becomes (unsurprisingly) a troubled youth. Unlike the Never Back Down films though, Michael is a likable character and although he is angry at the world, it's entirely understandable as he is well fleshed out.

He starts off the movie hanging around with a bad crowd at school and having crazy parties, but then becomes the underdog and rather than being someone you don't care about, he is at heart a man of honour.

One of the little things I noticed was him bowing before a fight and someone says "young people don't want to see karate anymore, they want to see this" *pointing to the cage fighting*.

Cody comes from a martial arts background so when we see him fight, it doesn't look overly-choreographed but believable.

One thing to be prepared for is that it's not constant action, with the first half of the movie focusing on character development, drama and story. The second half of the movie is tournament time and that's when the action really kicks in.

Michael Biehn plays Reggie, the Mr. Miyagi-type mentor of the tale who has his own back-story which I won't go into here. Biehn is always phenomenal on screen and never seems like he's acting; he just has a truth to every character and when watching this, you're not watching an actor, you're watching Reggie.

Martin Kove plays against type as the inspirational Principal Vanhorne who wants to straighten out Michael and send him to Reggie; he doesn't have a very big role but it's great to see him in this type of movie as a good guy.

UFC Fighter Krzysztof Soszynski is the villain of the movie Dominic and he REALLY looks the part; when he's on screen he's pretty damn scary looking and is threatening as Hell. He brings real authenticity to the role and his fight scenes are vicious… and usually short. He's a very memorable villain and may end up being seen as a classic bad guy.

Speaking of the fight scenes, I'm pleased to say that they are shaky cam free with fluid camera work but also not afraid to get up close to the action. We get to see every punch and kick and it isn't watered down; when we see Dominic fighting, he pounds his opponent's faces in and usually leaves them out cold.

There is one reference to 'The Karate Kid' in the movie but nothing cheesy and that's one of the main things I enjoyed about 'Tapped Out'. It manages to be an inspirational tale without being cheesy or having any clunky dialogue. The characters are believable and although the story isn't anything all that new, I found myself enjoying every moment.

There is plenty of humour too in the form of Lou (Daniel Faraldo) who arranges the fights and has some choice lines; when he sees what Michael can do in the ring he turns from cynical to a fan very quickly.

We also get a few awesome training montages which are essential for films like this but in this movie we get to see UFC legend Anderson Silva teach Michael how to properly cage fight and mix up his fighting style. He's only in a few scenes but he has a great career ahead of him as an action star as he has a very likable face and plenty of fighting skills… obviously.

'Tapped Out' is director Allan Ungar's feature début and from this evidence it looks like he is going to have a great career. With a new action movie called 'Gridlocked' on the way, I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next.

Overall, 'Tapped Out' is 'The Karate Kid' for a new generation with a great cast, nicely choreographed fights and an inspirational and entertaining story.