Undisputed: The Best Film Series You're Not Watching

While superheroes and big-budget blockbusters dominate the theatrical market, one of the best action franchises in the business lives on home video

Hollywood’s dependence on sequels and franchises is nothing new. In fact, it relies on one of the simplest business models in the entertainment industry at large; if you make something successful, just make another one. The most iconic franchises in the world exist because fans keep clamoring for more. However, what about those random sequels or long-running franchises no one seemingly asked for? “The Mummy” was popular enough in the early 2000’s to spawn two sequels, but did you know its spin-off, “The Scorpion King”, has five total films? Surely, everyone remembers the game-changing action classic “The Marine” starring John Cena, right? It’s on its sixth entry. What about the horror juggernaut that is “Wrong Turn”? It's seventh film is due to be released later this year.

At first glance, the “Undisputed” films seem to fit within this head-scratching subgenre. The first film, released in 2002, was a forgettable prison boxing drama starring Ving Rhames and Wesley Snipes. The critical response was lukewarm and it bombed at the box office. So, I naturally rolled my eyes when a direct-to-video sequel surfaced in 2006. This time, Michael Jai White portrayed the Rhames character as his skills were tested in a matchup against Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins), the new prison’s resident MMA master. I caught it on cable one night and was pleasantly surprised to see the fight scenes weren’t only good by DTV standards, they were legitimately well-done. The third movie was even better. After its release, I realized it had quietly become one of the best pure action franchises in the game. This notion was further solidified when the fourth film, “Boyka: Undisputed”, debuted in 2016.

A major factor in the series’ marked improvement has been the vision of Israeli-born director Isaac Florentine. He helmed the two middle installments and his penchant for longer takes and fluid camera movement that brilliantly followed the fight choreography carried over to the fourth, despite only serving as a producer. The other key was casting Adkins as Boyka, who transitioned from villain to main character as the movies progressed. He’s easily one of the best martial arts actors working today. His jaw-dropping athleticism is on full display in every outing and Florentine was one of the first directors let him unleash his prowess (“Ninja: Shadow of a Tear” is another underground legend to check out from these two). If you like martial arts cinema, you should give this series a look. While far from perfect, it's undoubtedly home to some of the best low-budget brawling this side of Hong Kong.