This has to have been done before, right? I claim no perfect knowledge in any regard, but the concept sounds so much like a videogame, a more extreme rendition of 'Mortal Kombat,' that I find it hard to believe 'Hellkat' is truly the first piece of media to explore the notion of a fighting tournament in the underworld. With that said, even though I had low expectations to begin with, the idea sufficiently caught my attention to warrant a view. Yet the warning signs were clear, and I should have known better: This is most distinctly not a good movie.
In a runtime of only 78 minutes we're treated to basically 20 minutes of exposition - arguably more - before any especially noteworthy narrative elements begin to manifest. We're subjected to absolutely far more character background than is necessary, tawdry dialogue (mind the pointless, casual homophobic slurs), sparing but highly questionable special effects (even smoke rising from a car engine is obvious CGI), and a wealth of passing scenes that are totally superfluous. This is all well before the promised "death tournament" is even mentioned - just under halfway through the movie.
And the centerpiece of the film is a "tournament" in name only: There are no spectators in an unadorned basement with bare walls. The roster of spotlighted fighters is a mere handful, each entering the same ring one by one to face their opponents. Some of the choreography looks great, but at other points it's difficult to assess since the sequences are sometimes shot so haphazardly as to minimize what we actually get to see. Makeup looks fine so long as it's employed simply as part of a character's appearance, or visualizing wounds, but when embellished and used more elaborately in conjunction with prosthetics and masks, the result is appallingly unconvincing. And the music, accordingly credited to "20Six Hundred," is so dull, middling, and lacking that the composer should be ashamed of themselves for such a halfhearted, dispassionate contribution.
Sadly, those latter words rather describe 'Hellkat' as a whole. The cast's roles are underwritten, and their performances are characterized by stilted, disinterested, or otherwise dubious delivery; uninspired expression; and otherwise uncaring acting that makes it seem like being in this movie was nothing more than a job, and not something they believed in. Lighting, used to add atmosphere, is so overdone as to negative the intended effect. Without even considering its value, the sheer abundance of material inserted into the movie before and between the fighting begins makes me question just how much anyone was really invested in the production. It's as though the filmmakers actively disregarded their own concept to deemphasize the hand-to-hand combat.
The movie alternately feels like an effort to realize a promising, enticing notion, a passion project, without any resources to meaningfully do so; an action-horror flick in which every worst impulse has been indulged to an extreme; and or a film that only some of those involved wanted to succeed, while others were actively working to sabotage the endeavor. The root premise is outstanding, one I would love to see brought to life, and there are lots of swell ideas in the screenplay. But the execution is in so many ways simply a mess, and fails to excite or engage us in any way. This is another instance in which the poster crafted to market the feature drastically oversells the content.
I wanted to like this. I had low expectations but high hopes. That hope has been my undoing. No matter what prospectively draws a viewer into this feature, there is no aspect of it that is brought to fruition to any degree of satisfaction. I'm not surprised, but disappointed nonetheless, and I can't imagine any situation in which I could I recommend 'Hellkat.'
