I’m really starting to love Lions Gate for their sheer audacity, because, as they revealed to me by sending me a copy of Circle of Pain on DVD, they’re really planning to ride the whole “fight movie” subgenre to its inevitable conclusion, wherever that may actually be.

Circle of Pain follows fighter Dalton Hunt, a man who quit at the top of his game following an unpleasant fight-related accident.  But after some legal chicanery and a series of ham-fisted threats (delivered by equally ham-fisted actress Bai Ling), Dalton finds himself back in the ring going after the muscle-bound sociopath that’s currently shooting for his record.  And in a bid to get ready for that fight, Dalton goes to get trained by an enigmatic fight master in the most thoroughly Star Wars style.  But can Dalton win his fight and defeat the people out to put paid to him and his family?  Or will he lose, this time for good?

Circle of Pain is jammed full of so many cliches per minute that I’m starting to think they should have titled this Generic Fight Film 2010.  It’s like someone had a checklist of all the great training montages and just ran right through the list.

Oh, and special note?  It’s pretty much the height of sheer general turpitude to beat a guy in a wheelchair.  Unless you’re planning to dismember the guy who did it, it’s generally not a good idea to use it as a plot device.

But still, Circle of Pain isn’t terrible, especially for a fight movie.  It just covers a lot of ground that a lot of other movies have already covered, and while it’s sufficiently competent to be a good watch if you like fight movies, you should know that there’s nothing special here.  It may well be the Nightmare on Elm Street 4 of fight movies.

Thus, the Screenhead Ten Scale hands Circle of Pain a five out of ten for being entertaining but so laden with cliches that it becomes unremarkable.