ABSOLUTE DOMINION: Doesn’t Deliver

For years, I’ve sung the praises of Lexi Alexander and Green Street Hooligans. The characters, the dialogue, the fights, I loved every minute of it. I even enjoyed Punisher: War Zone, and though it’s not my favorite Punisher film, there was no question that its highlight was the action. When I heard that Alexander had a new feature film, focusing on a martial arts tournament in the dystopian future, I was thrilled to see what she could do with this universe. Despite its curious premise, however, Absolute Dominion appears to pull every punch and kick it throws.

A Rumble for Religion

In the year 2044, the world has been nearly annihilated by the incessant wars carried out, all in the name of one religion or another. Fix Huntley (Patton Oswalt), a streamer/influencer – those still exist in the apocalypse – sarcastically suggests his own solution to this issue: A global tournament. Each religion would train and select a fight to represent them in combat. Whoever wins this “battle for absolute dominion” would determine the world’s sole official religion. What could go wrong? Like more than a few jokes on the internet, everyone decides to run with this idea and make it a real thing.

Twenty years later, Sagan (Désiré Mia) trains for the finally-upcoming tournament. In fact it’s all he’s ever known. Unlike other fighters, Sagan was bred specifically for this tournament, with genetic donors chosen for their minds and athleticism, and represents the Institute of Humanism and Science – the only science-based, atheist group participating. Raised by two doctors, Sitara (Olunike Adeliyi) and Jehuda (Alex Winter), and trained by Anton (Mario D’Leon), Sagan travels to take part in the wild-card tournament, the winner of which will join the top fifty ranked fighters who will participate in the eventual final tournament. Although Sagan is an adept, almost superhuman fighter, his parents and trainer harbor concerns about a mysterious health issue that he seems unaware of. In addition, Sagan is constantly flanked by his protection officer Naya (Andy Allo), who becomes more necessary as he gains notoriety with the other fighters, eventually having his life threatened.

A Dystopian Disappointment

One cannot view Absolute Dominion without noting its parallels to The Hunger Games. Not just the premise of a post-apocalyptic tournament but swapping class for religion, but also the overall vibe, including the eccentric host Selan (Alok Vaid-Menon), who’s essentially a snarkier, more malevolent Caesar Flickerman but without Stanley Tucci’s charisma. We also have the corrupt head of the tournament (Julie Ann Emery) who openly flouts the rules of the tournament and even the law to bend the results to her will. Filmed in a defunct Las Vegas casino, the sets are alternately sort-of futuristic and not-quite by virtue of the budget. There is some fun cinematography, mostly constrained to the beautiful nature shots that establish scenes around the world. The large cast delivers mostly serviceable performances. Oswalt is energetic and animated as always, clearly having fun, and Mia’s restrained acting actually fits his engineered existence. The film suffers from some consistently clunky dialogue, including pop culture references that land for us, in the year 2025, but for them would be dated at best and archaic at worst.

While the criticism of religion, zealotry, and war is never not apparent, there’s no room for any subtext or reading between the lines when everything is stated as such. I will commend Alexander for the diverse casting, which makes sense given the global scale of the plot and different cultures that must be represented, including having all security/protection officers played by women. However, where I was very much underwhelmed is with what should have been the highlights of the film: the fights. Alexander has an extensive martial arts and stunt background, at one point a kickboxing world champion. The fights in Green Street Hooligans were raw and at-times very emotionally charged, and War Zone was even more brutal. Though there are moments of hard hits and cool choreo, the fights feel like just another scene; even the main event is tough to find thrilling. Every time, both fighters go through the motions, but the tension is lacking and the adrenaline never gets pumping, with the score occasionally calm and lending even more of a disjointed vibe. Had these been cranked up just a couple more notches, it could have kept the momentum of the film going and smoothed over other parts of the film.

Absolute Dominion: Sadly, Not a Knockout

It is deeply unfortunate that Absolute Dominion is not the thrilling action flick that it could be. I could forgive so much, if even the action scenes packed enough of a punch to carry the rest of the film. The message was there, but it just didn’t land for me.

Absolute Dominion releases in theaters and on VOD May 9th.