Elite XC Extreme Combat: Destiny + Renegade (Image
Entertainment DVDs)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
The
extreme fighting cycle where the fighters know several forms of self-defense
and other fighting skills is on the upswing and now, there are competing
leagues interested in getting a piece of the action. In what could be called the first post-modern
contact sport by the nature of its mixing styles, Elite XC is out to counter
the hugely successful UFC (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and two double-CD
sets issued by Image entertainment show how serious they are.
Destiny has now-legendary Frank Shamrock
taking on the formidable Renzo Gracie as the lead attraction, but it is also
their inaugural event, making it a very important showcase of what they intend
to offer the audience. There is money in
this, plus a serious sense of ambition, making all their stars sound like a
million bucks and trying to offer some surprises. The female tête-à-tête is Gina Carano vs.
Julie Kedzie, expanding the appeal into more territory and attempting to
establish female stars the UFC has not managed to do yet.
K.J.
Koons and Antonio “Big Foot” Silva are considered other star possibilities,
showing up on that set, as well as Renegade,
with Koons taking on Nick Diaz. Diaz and
Kimbo Slice are also promoted with all the joy and gleam of the flashiest WWE
promotion, yet there is going to be no humor or storyline here, just people
punching and kicking other people repeatedly until one wins. Each set has 10 fights each, as shown on
Showtime and if the producers can keep this up, they will be a force to be
reckoned with.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in all cases comes from HD video and
looks consistent, though these DVD tradedowns are slightly off, but not by
much. The set ups look good and there is
some showmanship that makes this more of a pleasure to watch than you might
expect. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in
all fights are well recorded location audio, but don’t expect any surrounds. The audio of the audiences are held back a
little more than expected. Extras
include three colorful trading cards in each DVD case, the latter five fights
counted as bonus fights, stills, text rules, text glossaries and text fighter
bios. Renegade adds a Kimbo Slice profile and fighter interviews, but
that is too marginal to push it above its counterpart.
- Nicholas Sheffo
