Blood And Bone (2009) - A Review

 

This movie is so good!

Blood And Bone is a martial arts action movie released in the United States in 2009 and stars Michael Jai White, Eamonn Walker, Dante Basco, Nona Gaye, Michelle Belegrin, Bob Sapp, Dick Anthony Williams, Ron Yuan, Julian Sands, and Matt Mullins. It was directed by Ben Ramsey, with fight choreography by J.J. Perry and Michael Jai White.

Michael Jai White as Bone. He is a good guy you do not want to mess with.

In Blood And Bone, Michael Jai White plays Bone, a man just released from prison looking for a place to live in Los Angeles. He finds an apartment run by Tamara (played by Nona Gaye), who rents out a room for him there... as long as he doesn't bring any trouble there. Tamara takes care of 'abandoned' children at her apartment, including a young boy named Jared. Bone does look for trouble, though. He wants to get into the underground fighting circuit in L.A.

Bone becomes friends with Pinball (played by Dante Basco), a local fight promoter. He also meets James (played by Eamonn Walker), a local crime boss and fight manager. Bone is especially interested in James' girlfriend, Angela (played by Michelle Belegrin), which James does not like. Eventually, Bone becomes a sensation, using his martial arts skills to dominantly win his fights.

James wants Bone to fight for him, and he wants him to face the top underground fighter in the world, "Pretty Boy" Price (played by Matt Mullins). James wants to use this fight to elevate his ranking in the Consortium, the shady organization running the underground fighting circuit. We find out Bone is not fighting for fame or money, but to keep a promise. Will fighting for James end up making Bone break his promise...?

Eamonn Walker (left) as James. He is one bad dude. Ron Yuan plays his lackey.

Blood And Bone is one of those movies I've read is really good, but I have never been able to watch it. I finally found it on American streaming site Tubi (as of this review), so I got to see if it lived up to the hype. It did! In fact, it more than lived up to hype. I loved this movie! Not only is the action good, but so are the characters and the story. It goes a little deeper than just an underground fighting tournament movie. We see the street life, we see good people trying to make it in a tough world, we see race and class issues, and we see the best and worst of humanity in this movie.

Michael Jai White plays Bone as a stoic, disciplined man doing what he has to do to keep a promise. Eamonn Walker, as James, is also stoic (to a certain extent) and disciplined (he doesn't use bad language), but is also very narcissistic. Bone is genuine in his personality and motives, while James is all show. Dante Basco as Pinball brings a lot of the humor in the movie, and man can he talk! Nona Gaye gives an understated performance as Tamara. Michelle Belegrin as Angela Soto is a sight to behold, but she plays a very tragic character. You feel something for the characters in this movie, and that's a good thing.

The fight scenes in Blood And Bone are excellent!

Blood And Bone has a lot of exciting, hard-hitting fights. Michael Jai White is awesome in this. Not only does he do some impressive high-flying kicks, but he also does some submission work. The movie starts out with Bone being attacked in prison, and in this fight scene we see that Bone does not play around in fights! Of course, the best fight in the movie is when Bone fights 'Pretty Boy' Price. Really good choreography here, and Matt Mullins is an awesome martial artist. He is another guy that should be in more movies (I loved him in Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, an underrated TV show).

There are a lot of martial artist/fighter cameos in this movie! Kimbo Slice, Bob Sapp, Ernest 'The Cat' Miller, Maurice Smith, Erik Betts, Gina Carano, Bob Wall, Fumio Demura, and Gene LeBell (among many others) all make appearances. Watch out for them!

As you can imagine, I highly recommend Blood And Bone. This movie is really good. In fact, I would recommend it to people who are not martial arts movie fans, too. The plot may be the 'basic' tournament fighting story, but there is a lot more to it. Even though the movie is a bit dark and gritty, it is actually very uplifting and inspirational. Plus, the action is excellent! Michael Jai White is a national treasure, and he deserves to be a huge action star. Check Blood And Bone out, you won't regret it!

Reviewed by David Williams