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Who remembers back in the VHS day when Roger Corman and Concorde/New Horizons Home Video was putting out a surplus of martial arts thrillers starring kickboxing champions. You know the ones I mean. When the opening credits hit, names like Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Jerry Trimble lit up the screen and underneath their name read what kickboxing federation they were a champ of. God, I loved it and when you saw those credits, you knew you were in for a bone crackling good time.
Well, those days are gone but in its place, we have a current crop of MMA and UFC superstars making actioners and it’s well documented on the DVD covers and in all the trailers. Take a look at the cover art for Mojave Diamonds below for a visual aid.
There you go! As big as day, it reads UFC SUPERSTARS and just like in the 90’s, I’m eating it all up again. Sure I might be older but I’m that same twenty something martial artist on the inside that can’t get enough of real life fighters jocking up for action-thrillers where they get to use their particular skill set onscreen as opposed to killing it in The Octagon.
This time, we have the thriller Mojave Diamonds from director Asif Akbar which stars Cowboy Cerrone, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Chael Sonnen in a tale about a trio of very dangerous brothers who take on a criminal empire when family is threatened. It’s a simple plot once again but alas we never dwell on that too much anyways as we all know why we watch these types of films. They are essentially their own subgenre and rightly so.
Cerrone stars as Roy Mason who is down and out and competing in illegal back alley MMA fights for pocket cash when he’s not tying one on. Unfortunately for Roy, one night he gets a little too confident and he loses and costs mob boss Julian (Jackson) a whole lot of money. Julian is as dangerous as they come and to prove how mad he is, he puts a bullet into Roy’s current squeeze.
In order to pay back the debt, Roy reluctantly agrees to transport $50 million dollars in uncut diamonds across the border and he brings younger brother Danny (Chris Maher) along for the ride when older brother Joe (Sonnen) says no way. You see, Roy and Joe are estranged as Joe is upset about how Roy is ruining his life. Joe is running the family ranch and has a beautiful wife and daughters and he’s always felt that Roy skipped out on him. Joe’s family is in the crosshairs of Julian, however, and if Roy doesn’t deliver, very bad things are going to happen to Joe’s wife and daughters. The plot, as they say, thickens but not too much.
Wouldn’t you know it that when Roy and Danny get underway, the truck full of diamonds gets stolen by a rival syndicate while they are stopping for gas. A very bad day indeed. Now Roy, Danny and a very reluctant Joe, whose only doing it for family, must jock up in order to save Joe’s family when they are kidnapped by Julian. Bullets, and empty handed beatdowns ensue as the Brothers Mason do what they do best and that’s eliminate nefarious enemies with extreme prejudice to the gleeful eye of the movie’s target audience.
Watching Mojave Diamonds, I once again couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching a DTV 90’s actioner and it was like walking into a Blockbuster and seeing this movie on the shelf. The movie has its share of problems, but I overlook all that as it still delivers macho action sequences complete with Chael Sonnen walking into his own private arsenal filled with enough firepower to out fit the Navy SEALS and loading up for war like Schwarzenegger did in that classic scene on the beach from the 1985 action classic Commando. It truly is a sequence of ultra-machismo on a grand scale.
The acting is what you’d come to expect from these types of movies and even though Academy Awards will not be won, that’s not the name of the game here…oh no sir. It’s all about action, explosions, throw downs and scantily clad women. Ahhhh the nostalgia is kicking into high gear once again. The main cast do what they can with the written word but we are basically just waiting for the next violently laced altercation.
There’s also a host of side characters that show up unannounced that do nothing to the proceedings. I was wondering during a few of these moments that maybe I had fallen asleep and misses more scenes with them but nope. From a pair of law enforcement officers who pop up to ultimately just arrest bad guys in the end to an informant that delivers nothing to the movie, plot holes abound to make you scratch your head and say why am I watching these people and not my host of UFC shitkickers?
Cerrone plays Roy, who is the main protagonist, with a low key flair while Sonnen and Jackson ham it up for the camera delivering over the top performances which, let me stress, is not a bad thing. The three do compliment each other well and Cowboy and Chael get to have some pretty dramatic moments together before the bullets start zeroing in.
Unfortunately, for a movie that stars three UFC bad asses, there’s very little in the way of Octagon infused set pieces. We do get a few poorly shot altercations with Roy and his opponents in the first two thirds of the film but the finale is somewhat of a letdown in terms of what is built up to what actually transpires before the closing credits roll. Jackson is criminally underused here and his big moment at the end is interrupted by a twisty betrayal that is positively Shakespearean in its execution but not needed at all. There is another less formidable baddie here and he actually gets to tussle with Sonnen at the end. I won’t spoil anything but you’ll see it coming a mile away.
I’m giving Mojave Diamonds a pass though as even though it fumbles the ball with the MMA action, we still get plenty of machine guns and head shots in the last third of the movie. There’s an assault on Julian’s compound by our three heroes and another bloody altercation in the grand finale that comes complete with silencers, and transitioning to one’s backup sidearm that will make any action fan swoon. Both Cerrone and Sonnen get their chances to shine, or should I say, chances to inflict bodily harm with Cerrone getting the longest MMA battle in the movie. I love how all three brothers were military trained. Because why not and it helps make them look all the more killer.
Overall, Mojave Diamonds is no classic by any stretch of the imagination but it does serve up a guilty pleasure (again I hate that term) helping of indie action yarn that comes loaded with cool weaponry and some nice MMA bravado. Both Cerrone and Sonnen get to have plenty of violent fun but unfortunately, Jackson is not given that much to do.
The finale might be light on the MMA but it still delivers in the firepower category even if the choreography is a bit by the book. The movie does stumble at the one yard line but in the end, I still had fun with it and watching some of my favorite MMA stars deliver some signature moves was a plus. I just wanted more in the end with the empty handed kills.
If you can overlook the flaws, then Mojave Diamonds still brings us back to a time when we had to get in our cars and drive to a store to get our action fix on. Once again, God do I miss those days.
VERDICT: 3 Out of 5 Stars
Mojave Diamonds falters to a degree but 2 out of the 3 MMA stars still get to do what they do best, and that’s take out the trash.
Mojave Diamonds hits DVD & Digital this Tuesday, May 30th from Lionsgate Entertainment!
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