Reviews
Fighter (2006)
mediocre documentary about "dark era" MMA
First off, I need to mention that the 2006 release date is misleading since this was filmed primarily in 1997-98 with some follow-up footage in 2000-01. So it mostly covers the "dark era" of MMA when it was still banned from PPV in America and before it became sanctioned by state athletic associations. Back then the UFC ran small shows in the South or overseas.
But you wouldn't learn most of what I just wrote from this somewhat bland 60 minute documentary. Really, it was just a bunch of fight and interview footage with no central theme other than "these are MMA fighters". It didn't attempt to explain the history of MMA at all. Still, as an MMA fan, this film was worth the watch, because it had plenty of fight footage. (This is an advantage of being a "dark era" film, because there's no way a small-budget production like this gets the same kind of footage now that the UFC is a profitable and fast becoming mainstream.)
Just as the title states, it's about MMA fighters. They obviously chose to focus the lion share of the 60 minute film on Randy Couture, since he's become one of the most popular guys in MMA. (Hence the 2006 release date at the height of his popularity). It does a pretty good job covering his early MMA career. The remaining time covers unknown amateurs fighting in small shows. I won't give anything away, but it's interesting to look them up on Sherdog and see how their fight careers went.
So MMA fans may find this a decent film, but I doubt anyone else would.
Before We Ruled the Earth (2003)
decent, but not as good as "Walking with Cavemen"
I just saw "Before We Ruled the Earth" on the Science channel (one of several Discovery channel spin-offs). I'm a bit surprised that there's only one brief review and 7 ratings for a Discovery channel documentary that's 4 years old. But I'm not that surprised since it's not as good as the more popular series "Walking with Cavemen". Before I address why, I'll briefly describe the documentary itself since there's very little info here on IMDb.
This is a 2-part documentary totaling 2 hours. The first part, "Mastering the Beasts", depicts a few homo ergaster/erectus scenarios from ~1.7 million to ~500,000 years ago. Then it continues with neanderthals during the ice age ~50,000 years ago. The second part, "Hunt or Be Hunted", depicts several homo sapien scenarios during the ice age and prehistoric north America. (Imporant note: I got the episode titles from amazon. Each episode is its own DVD with zero bonus features. What a gyp since both could easily fit on one disc.)
What I liked: The scenarios were based on specific archaeological finds that are briefly described at the end of each scenario. Some of this was new information for me (I've studied anthropology a good bit in the past year). The costumes and make-up were very well done, and the actors did a fine job.
What I didn't like: The biggest weakness was the sometimes dull, boring storytelling. Some of the scenarios were mildly interesting, but I zoned out during others. The narration was often very dry. It wasn't nearly as engrossing as "Walking with Cavemen". (I think this is the main reason for the sparse feedback here and at amazon). Another weakness is that the extinct animals were animated with lousy CGI for a 2003 production.
Bottom-line: I've watched "Walking with Cavemen" twice in the past year and I'll probably watch it again sometime in the near future. On the other hand, "Before we Ruled the earth" was worth watching once since I'm very interested in the subject matter, but I have no desire to watch it again.