First, this is not one movie but two. The first is a standard drama about a mysterious stranger that comes out of nowhere to extract vengeance for .. whatever. No offence to the writing team, but we've seen this before. I think Van Damme alone has done this about a dozen times. It's not bad, mind you, but there is nothing in the drama portion of this film that would make you stand in line to see the movie. Which brings us to movie no 2, the fight movie. Now a martial arts is an entirely different kind of movie, and its success rests with two factors, the building of the suspense and the quality of the skills of the lead. Bruce Lee understood this perfectly and if you do your homework you will find that the film he was working on at the time of his death was about "structured" fights where each fight built on the next to a grand finale. The best fight films of our era -- the first Rockies, ONG BAK 1 (not the rest), and the early Van Dammes all understand this principle. Ever Warrior, a great fight film, gets it. (The Chinese don't and many Kung Fu films from China miss the boat). Now, if you are still with me, you probably suspect that BLOOD AND BONE has one of the best fight structures in film, therefore putting it as a contender for greatness. Which leaves the lead actor. To make this one of the best fight films ever, you would also need an actor who is not only credible but moves like the wind and gives the impression he could actually make the moves in real life ... if he had to. And that brings us to Jai White. Why this guy never become a fight legend, I don't know. Hell, Stallone is still fighting on the way to pick up his pension checks, so it can't be age. But he is the real deal, and this seems his best star performance. Actor plus well structured (pyramided) fights equal one of the best fight films of all time

While it will win no plaudits for originality, BLOOD AND BONE turns out to be a fairly effective little action film with plenty of bone-crunching fight sequences to please the fans. Like in that old Van Damme flick, A.W.O.L., this is a film that sees the hero drawn into the world of underground fighting, pitting his strength and skills against numerous opponents while murky businessmen bet on the odds.

Films like this live or die on the strength of the action and BLOOD AND BONE does it very well: the fights are slick and well-choreographed, thankfully never resorting to the impossible-to-see shaky-cam work. Michael Jai White, an actor who I only know from minor parts in the likes of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN, proves to be one tough son-of-a-bitch who takes on all comers with aplomb. The resultant action is brutal in the extreme and very satisfying.

Elsewhere, villain duties are handed to the excellent Eamonn Walker, a British actor who totally convinces as an American and whose character possesses far more depth than you might expect from a definite B-flick. Julian Sands shows up too, but is underused – apart from when he gets put in his place during a short conversation on racial history which comes out of nowhere but was most welcome. Altogether, not a bad little film at all.

I have had "Blood and Bone" laying around for quite a while, just never got around to watching it, as I thought it was a boxing movie. Don't know where I got that notion from. It wasn't before a friend of mine mentioned the martial arts in the movie that I picked it up and actually got around to watching it. The reason for me acquiring this movie was because of Julian Sands, but it turned out that he was not in the movie all that much, much to my disappointment.

"Blood and Bone" is about Isaiah Bone (played by Michael Jai White) who comes out of prison with a promise to fulfill to his friend from inside the jail. And in order to do this, he becomes a street fighter with his ambition set on one thing only.

Story-wise, then "Blood and Bone" is fairly average and generic. There is nothing overly impressive or creatively new to be seen here. But still, it works out well enough, because the storyline (however generic it might be) is spiced up with some really nice fighting scenes.

I must admit that I was thoroughly impressed with the fighting skills of Michael Jai White, I never knew he was this good. So that sort of made me want to see more of his movies, as I have only seen "Spawn" and the "Universal Soldier" movie he was in.

As for the people on the cast list, then people did good jobs with their roles. Again, Michael Jai White impressed with his performance in "Blood and Bone". But he wasn't carrying the movie alone, Eamonn Walker (playing James) also did a really great job, as did Julian Sands (playing Franklin McVeigh). Dante Basco (playing Pinball) was a bit out of his element here in this movie, but it was fun to see him in a role such as this one.

"Blood and Bone" is a great action movie, and well worth watching if you enjoy a good fight or two.