''Blood and Bone'' is a 2009 American
martial arts film
Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression a ...
directed by
Ben Ramsey and written by Michael Andrews. It stars
Michael Jai White
Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, martial artist, and director. Though he has appeared in a variety of genres, White is best known for his Action film, action and martial arts films. His first major starring role an ...
,
Julian Sands
Julian Richard Morley Sands (4 January 1958 – ) was an English actor. He had his breakout role as George Emerson in '' A Room with a View'' (1985) and went on to appear in '' The Killing Fields'' (1984), '' Gothic'' (1986), '' Siesta'' (1987), ...
,
Eamonn Walker
Eamonn Roderique Walker (born 12 June 1962) is a British actor. On television, he began in the BBC sitcom ''In Sickness and in Health'' (1985–1987), the ITV (TV network), ITV crime dramas ''The Bill'' (1988–1989), ''Supply & Demand (TV ser ...
,
Dante Basco
Dante Roman Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys, in Steven Spielberg's ''Hook'', Dolph in the cult film '' But I'm a Cheerleader'', the lead character Ben Mercado in th ...
,
Nona Gaye
Nona Aisha Gaye (born September 4, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, former fashion model, and retired actress. The daughter of singer Marvin Gaye and maternal granddaughter of jazz musician Slim Gaillard, Gaye began her career as a vocali ...
,
Michelle Belegrin
Michelle Belegrin is an American actress and model, who starred as Andrea Zavatti on the MyNetworkTV serial ''Desire''. She has also modeled, standing at 5 feet 7½ inches tall, for '' Marie Claire'', ''ELLE'' and '' Fashion Quarterly''. She ap ...
, and
Bob Sapp
Robert Malcolm Sapp (born September 22, 1973) is an American mixed martial artist, kickboxing, kickboxer, professional wrestler, actor, and former American football, football player. He is currently under contract with Rizin Fighting Federatio ...
. The film also features martial artist
Matt Mullins
Matt Mullins is an American actor and martial artist. At the age of 16, in 2000, he won his first World Kickboxing Association title in Dublin, Ireland. This would be his first of five championships in the next three years.
Martial arts caree ...
, former
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
Ernest "The Cat" Miller,
Kimbo Slice
Kevin Ferguson (February 8, 1974 – June 6, 2016), better known as Kimbo Slice, was a Bahamian-American mixed martial artist, professional boxer, and actor. Originally a bare-knuckle boxer, he became noted for his role in mutual combat stre ...
,
Maurice Smith, and
Gina Carano
Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American actress and former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She competed in Elite Xtreme Combat and Strikeforce (mixed martial arts), Strikeforce from 2006 to 2009, where she compiled a 7– ...
.
It was released
direct-to-DVD
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strateg ...
on September 15, 2009.
Plot
Fresh out of prison, highly skilled martial artist and ex-marine Isaiah Bone moves to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, where underground fights are being held. One night, after watching a match involving local champion Hammerman, Bone makes a deal with promoter Pinball to get him into the fight scene for 20% of his earnings; 40% if Pinball puts his own money on the line. On that same night, Bone encounters mob boss James and his girlfriend Angela Soto. Bone enters his first underground fight and quickly defeats his opponent with only two kicks. Pinball explains to Bone that Angela was previously married, but James set up her husband Danny on a triple-homicide, sending him to jail. When James learned that she was pregnant, he had her undergo an abortion. Since then, Angela has fallen into drug addiction.
Over the next few nights, Bone makes a name for himself in the underground fighting scene, defeating every fighter in his path and earning himself and Pinball thousands in cash. At the same time, he bonds with the people who live at his apartment building: Tamara - the landlady who manages his apartment, Roberto - an elderly Latin-American man whom he plays chess with, and Jared - a young boy Tamara adopted after his father was sent to prison. Then, after making the once-undefeated Hammerman fall to the ground, Bone is offered a deal by James. The international underground fighting scene is run by a league of rich, powerful men known as the "Consortium", but mainly by a black market arms dealer named Franklin McVeigh, and James wants Bone to square off against Pretty Boy Price, the reigning champion.
After telling James he will consider the offer, Bone reveals to Angela that he was cell mates and close friends with Danny. Then one day, Danny was murdered by an inmate named JC. Angela reveals that shortly after Danny went to prison, she gave birth to a son, but lost custody of him and does not know if he is still alive. Bone promises to bring her to her son, but he sends her to a drug rehab clinic until she is ready.
The next morning, James offers McVeigh US$5 million to have him get the Consortium approve and schedule a fight between Bone and Price. That night, Bone discovers that Roberto has been murdered in front of the apartment, mauled to death by James' dogs because he witnessed one of James' street killings. Bone declines the offer to fight for James mainly because he never agreed to it; as a result, James orders his thugs to hunt down Bone and Pinball. James' bodyguard Teddy D and his thugs head to the rehab clinic to pick up Angela, only to have Bone and Pinball dispatch them. Transmitting his location through Teddy D's GPS phone, James has the duo follow him to McVeigh's mansion. There, Bone is ordered by James to fight Price and win back his money, or else he will have Angela, Tamara, Jared, and Pinball killed. During the conversation, Bone secretly records James' revelation that he had Danny set up and murdered through the GPS phone, which he transmits to Pinball's cell phone; Pinball then sends the video to the authorities. Bone faces Price, but at the point where he is close to defeating him, he taps the ground and forfeits the fight. An infuriated James grabs his
katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...
and attacks Bone, but Bone is thrown a
jian
The ''jian'' (Mandarin Chinese: , , English approximation: , Cantonese: ) is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. The first Chinese sources that mention the ''jian'' date to the 7th century BCE, during the S ...
by McVeigh's bodyguard O'Hara to even the odds. Bone drops the sword and uses the sheath instead, beating James with it. In the middle of the melee, Bone redirects a sword slash, causing James to sever his own hand. He runs off before the police arrive at the mansion to arrest James.
The next day, Angela is reunited with Jared. Tamara, who had threatened to kick Bone out due to his association with James, offers him to stay; he declines, saying he will only cause further trouble. Before exiting the apartment, he leaves her an envelope full of cash and asks her to take Angela in once she is rehabilitated. He also parts ways with Pinball, saying he has business to take care of.
Cast
Additionally,
Gene LeBell
Ivan Gene LeBell (October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022) was an American actor, judoka, stuntman and professional wrestler. Nicknamed "Judo Gene" and "The Godfather of Grappling", he is credited with popularizing grappling in professional fighti ...
has a non-speaking part of an attendant, while
Robert Wall plays O'Hara.
References
External links
Official site*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood And Bone
2009 films
2009 direct-to-video films
2009 action films
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films scored by Nicholas Pike
American gangster films
Kung fu films
Karate films
American martial arts films
Mixed martial arts films
Underground fighting films
Martial arts tournament films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
English-language action films