Lack of good storyline.

Best movie ever!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Very small spoilers about the intro sequence only, the rest is spoiler free. I only mention it to stay clear with IMDb.This movie is the equivalent of the kickboxing movie made in the 90s when that sport was on the rise. These days, UFC and MMA in general are all over the place and many movies with low budget are made in that vein. Some works good, some just not. The Philly Kid(or Born to Fight as its title in Canada on my DVD case) is one that pretty much work very fine.My only problem is about the intro sequence. The way its show is totally unbelievable. That he kill the thug is OK and could happen, but when the cops arrive, that his friend still hold the gun, that the cops are trigger happy and shoot even tough he dosen't aim them at all and more specifically the 10 years old grudge of the cop just because he was present(and yet cooperated in his arrest) when his dying friend Accidentally shot the other cop dosen't make sense at all.Then you see how dirty and rotten that cop is anyway and you can't really understand why he kept that grudge for so long and all. Overall its a pretty bad plot point, but the rest of the movie and the rest of the characters are all fine and nicely done.One important thing tough that really annoyed me on my first view of the movie, i was expecting Michael Jay White to be one of the important characters considering he is on the cover yet he got only a VERY small role, merely an extended cameo and he dosen't fight at all. I am glad i made my review on my second viewing cause it could had alter my review of an otherwise pretty good movie if i had done it on the first view. I know they put him on the cover to make people rent/buy the movie, but its disappointing to expect something and be fooled.But like i said otherwise a pretty nice movie, this is one of the situation where i would like IMDb to include ratings with 0.5. Cause i think this movie is a solid 7.5 rating, so i will go to 8/10 cause it deserve it more than 7.

Ever since the popularity of HUNGER GAMES the concept of watching young people in cages fight each other with no holds barred even to the death, have proliferated. Says something about the audience desires, or fads, or the gladiator mentality in all mankind since the Roman arenas. THE PHILLY KID is a low budget little pertinent drama that for the genre is better than the usual. Written by Adam Mervis (who also acts the role of the main character's understanding parole officer) and directed with fine pacing by Jason Connery, the movie somehow catches fire - likely due to a cast of up and coming young actors.Dillon (Wes Chatham, a hunk newbie the camera loves) is a former NCAA champion wrestler has just been released form 10 years in prison for braking the neck of a thug during a holdup in front of a liquor store where he (at around age 16) was buying alcohol with a fake ID for his friend Jake (Devon Sawa, impressive in a difficult role). Dillon now lives in a filthy halfway house and is without money until his old friend Jake finds him a job in a liquor store owned by a kindly man Lenny (Bernard Hocke). Jake's sister Amy (Sarah Butler) is on the scene and eventually becomes the love interest for Dillon. It seems Jake is heavily in debt to conman Ace (Lucky Johnson) and Jake, knowing Dillon's ability as a wrestler, pleads with Dillon to fight for money in the underground cage fighting scene to save a Jake's life. Another evil force is the police officer Marks (Chris Browning) who arrested Dillon and who hates him and threatens his life if he doesn't fix a fight. Dillon trains, wins some fights, (he is supposed to fight only three fights for Ace to release Jake's debt), and is observed and ultimately trained by LA Jim (Neal McDonough). From there on it is a succession of bloody fights and gore until the end finds a resolution.The cat is strong and is supported by some solid work by Eric Scott Woods and Michael Jai White. It is always satisfying to see new faces take on tough roles and this cadre of actors pulls it off very well. Not a great film, but a well crafted one for the genre. Grady Harp

I think anytime you watch a movie about something in which you are knowledgeable there is an excellent chance you will be disappointed. Movies when people click on a keyboard for 2 minutes and crack the CIA firewall or alien codes! Or when Japanese import cars are red-lined but seem to continue to rev higher and go faster with nitrous. Or football movies where people are diving left and right, but never at the ball carrier.This film is no different. The fight scenes weren't bad. Not even close to real, but better than other movies I've seen. The acting wasn't bad. The plot wasn't bad. Bearable, entertaining, but nothing exceptional.The plot has the lead actor fighting THREE fights to pay off a debt of his loser friend. After TWO fights, against virtually unknown local fighters, an MMA organization seeks him out and offers him a contract fight. The representative of the organization says they've been tracking his career. What??? His first fight was with no training after 10 years in prison. The second a few weeks later. Thousands of fighters across the nation, and they take notice of a guy with 2 wins in as many weeks against local nobodies??? Good grief.His third fight is against a guy twice his weight that moves like an 80-year-old. Look, it isn't the UFC, but there are still weight classes! I won't reveal any more and risk spoiling the end.Bottom line... worth watching over regular TV... but nothing beyond average.

for a UFC fighting style movie. for a meager $5 mil. production budget, this movie turned out not bad at all passed the ceiling level of a B movie. but there are still some weird directing weaknesses: 1) the badly scripted then uniform cop then detective after 10 yrs. looked more like thugs and holding grudge for 10 yrs against the man who didn't shoot his partner is such a weak plot. 2) the parole officer is also a very weird role created in this movie. 3) the liquor store never got one customer but both owner and the employee still doing shelving restocking and storage room inventory daily. how this liquor store survived? 4) michael jay white became a syndicate fixer and a thug is a stretch. 5) the time frame of being a young man then spent 10 years in prison, came out still looked the same is another stretch; out of prison at age of ??? ain't he a bit too old? 6) the underground UFC style cage fights arrangement is a bit weak; 7) a billet shot through the cheek, yet not even swollen after the stitching-up is another stretch, and the bullet wound scar just like a dimple? man, this is what? korean plastic surgery?anyway, this is still a movie with very weak screenplay but performed by a very good tense gradually matured actor with quite believable fighting act.