So there is a tournament every 7 years where the worlds best assassins fight to their death, and the winner wins 10 mio dollar. Each assassin gets an implant and a locating device so they can find each other. The tournaments takes place in a normal city, where the mess that is made will be blamed on terrorists and madmen to keep the tournament a secret.

It is a premise with lots of potential for a fun movie. What breaks this movie is the bad character development; you know who are going to be be the finalists from the start, but just just hope that they will be killed off because there are no reasons to like them.

Still the movie has so great action that makes it relatively enjoyable. There are some brutal kills (e.g. people exploding with meat all over) and some fun fights (e.g. strip club). But it has all been seen much better in movies as The Condemned, Battle Royal, Death Race and The Running Man.

No two ways about it, The Tournament is one hell of a bloody silly film, stretching plausibility way beyond breaking point, but that doesn't stop it from being quite a bit of fun.

Every seven years, in an ordinary town, an extraordinary event takes place: the worlds top 30 assassins meet for The Tournament, a fight to the death that sees the winner pick up a cool $10million in prize money. This time around, the arena is Middlesbrough in the UK. That's right, Middlesbrough. Not London, not Manchester, not even Liverpool or Birmingham, but Middlesbrough, which must have the highest concentration of CCTV cameras in the country, for the whole event is broadcast live for the benefit of rich gamblers, who bet on the outcome (even a fight that takes place inside a disused church is somehow broadcast to the punters). It's also clearly not got much of a police force, for there is no sign of the law as Middlesbrough is turned into a battleground.

To ensure that each killer is able to identify the other players, tracking devices have been implanted in their stomachs; these gadgets are also explosive, so if a player gets out of line, they can be instantly 'withdrawn' from the game (with satisfyingly messy results). Favourite for the latest Tournament is the previous winner, Joshua Harlow (Ving Rhames),who is seeking revenge for the murder of his wife. Unwittingly taking part is alcoholic priest Father MacAvoy (Robert Carlyle) who accidentally swallows one of the tracking devices.

As I have already said, the idea that such a contest would and could take place in a town such as Middlesbrough without the immediate intervention of the armed police is ludicrous, but with lots of ballistic action (bullet squibs),martial arts, exploding bodies, impressive parkour, and plenty of vehicular carnage, plus the added bonus of the beautiful Kelly Hu as sexy assassin Lai Lai Zhen, The Tournament is mindlessly entertaining for the duration and should keep most undemanding action fans happy through its sheer energy.

THE TOURNAMENT is another in the string of films 'inspired' by the success of BATTLE ROYALE which feature armed opponents battling each other to the death in a specific location. The difference? This time around, that location happens to be Middlesborough, of all places! Middlesbrough is a run-down city in the north of England that just so happens to be famous for…well, absolutely nothing. So the choice to have it as the film's setting is unusual, to say the least, and seeing Hollywood stars prowling the streets is nothing if not incongruous. But then THE TOURNAMENT is a slightly quirky British production, so we shouldn't be too surprised.

As for how this all stands as a film, it comes across as a mix between THE CONDEMNED and DEATH RACE and offers little we haven't seen before (aside from the setting, of course). Robert Carlyle plays a boozy priest (is there any other kind in the movies?) who unwittingly becomes caught up in a battle between the world's greatest assassins. The storyline is paper thin so the filmmakers wisely choose to focus on the action instead, which is pretty good.

The various set-pieces are explosive and ultra-violent, seemingly designed to showcase the latest effects technology of human bodies exploding into clouds of splattery gore. The camera-work isn't too shoddy, as at least we can see some of what's going on, unlike in many modern-day shaky-cam action flicks. The actors playing the assassins are a fun assortment, ranging from pretty heroine Kelly Hu to martial arts supremo Scott Adkins (sadly underutilised) and CASINO ROYALE's parkour enthusiast Sebastien Foucan. Carlyle gives good value for money as always and it's always a pleasure to see Liam Cunningham in a film, although his role as this film's villain is fairly pathetic. Ving Rhames gives a typically larger than life turn in an extended cameo.

Things pick up for the ludicrous but entertaining climax, which manages to drag in a classic double-decker bus for some high-speed action before the strictly routine ending. And it's true, you know; THE TOURNAMENT is predictable in the extreme, offering absolutely nothing that hasn't already been done (and done better). But you know what? I enjoyed it. It's not something you'll want to watch more than once, but as an example of adult-orientated action cinema it works.