The Condemned (2007) Movie Ending, Explained: In his action film “The Condemned,” Scott Wiper reminds us of who the condemned truly are in comparison to those we label as condemned in society. Basically, those who have a criminal record or social deviants are condemned. Those who get caught breaking the law are condemned. But many people cash in on corrupt and dark activities that aren’t brought to light, and some are engaged in illegal and unethical enterprises. The film brings these two kinds of condemned individuals and presents them to the audience to decide who is condemned and who should be behind bars.
The Condemned (2007) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis
Ten criminals from around the world are chosen and purchased by a wealthy television reality show producer, Ian Breckel (Robert Mammone). They are then transported to a deserted Island in the South Pacific, far from the reach of anyone. The television producer makes a deal with the criminals to help them avoid capital punishment and be free from prison. They are allured by the money they will receive at the end of the illegal and unethical game in which they participate. The game is filmed live and broadcast on the internet, gaining viewers worldwide.
Why is a bomb placed on every contestant’s ankle?
In the game, there is only one winner. The one who survives last among the ten is the winner. Each of the contestants has to fight with one another. And the bomb on the ankle of the contestant helps them to execute the other quickly. The bomb features a 30-hour countdown timer and a pin to detonate the bomb.
The contestants try to find an opportunity to get hold of the pin and kill the other. As the contestants, in a bid to survive, are on a watch out and scheming to kill the other, one of the contestant’s real identities is known to the FBI agents. Jack Conrad’s (Steve Austin) classmates inform the agents that he is actually Jack Riley. Jack Riley was a former Delta Force operative whose girlfriend Sarah was unaware of his existence for the past year he was missing.
Can the bomb on the contestant’s ankle be deactivated?
About seven contestants die in various ways, and only Ewan McStarley (Vinnie Jones) and Go Saiga (Masa Yamaguchi), who team up, remain unharmed along with Jack Conrad. Jack Conrad enters a tower and tries to contact Sarah and inform her about his whereabouts. He is aggravated by the torture, turmoil, and sexual abuse that both McStarley and Saiga give his friend Paco Pacheco (Manu Bennett) and his wife Rosa Pacheco (Dasi Ruz) and considers the game on. Jack plans to execute them both.
He stabs Go Saiga, and Ewan McStarley escapes, and the producer assists him by sending him a shotgun. McStarley uses the shotgun to kill Jack Conrad. And Jack trying to save himself rolls off a cliff and is presumed dead when he falls injured into the waters. McStarley is declared the winner, and the bomb on his ankle is deactivated, but the promised prize money isn’t given.
Thus, McStarley snatches MP5 from the guards, walks straight to the control room and kills the tech team. Jack Conrad, who isn’t killed, comes after McStarley, kills him and chases Ian Breckel, who is abandoning the whole team and fleeing away. Julie, Ian Breckel’s girlfriend, helps Jack Conrad by handing over the re-activated ankle bomb to him. Jack Conrad, after having fired bullets at the helicopter Breckel is trying to escape on, throws the ankle bomb, and the helicopter blasts and crashes into the mountain cliff bringing an end to the unethical and violent game.
The Condemned (2007) Ending Explained
When McStarley and Saiga get together, you feel that they will definitely make it to the end and that they will share the prize. But the innate desire to win makes McStarley to even go after Saiga to kill him after he thinks that Conrad is dead in the cave blast. But Jack Conrad survives. He is not in the game to kill anyone or to win it. He wants to get rid of the game and make it home back safe and sound. Unfortunately, although the cruel game is known all over the world and is gaining numerous followers and viewers, no one knows where the game is being played.
Why is Jack Conrad infiltrating the show’s broadcast tower?
Jack Conrad, a former Delta Force operative, was captured while on a mission of Black ops to El Salvador after he bombed a building that drug dealers controlled. He didn’t return home, leaving his girlfriend and their children alone at home. Jack Conrad, therefore, infiltrates the tower and calls Sarah to inform her that he is still alive and that it is he who is forcefully made to play the game. During their conversation, Jack Conrad informs Sarah that the game is being played at the Island’s latitude. But before he shares more, the connection is broken.
The infiltration makes the producer nervous, and the team also believes that these criminals will come toward them and kill them all. Although Julie, Berckel’s girlfriend, is not for continuing the game, they go ahead and continue to cause trouble. Conrad’s infiltration warns them that this can happen in the near future too, where the criminal will just enter and soil their whole game. Conrad is not keen on the game, but what irritates him is the torture he and his friends faced. He considers it a ‘game on’ against the contestants and the producer, the mastermind behind this violence.
Ian Breckel, in many instances, supports contestant McStarley, will he win the game?
When McStarley and Saiga team up, they are supported by the producer, who drops them weapons to make them stronger and manipulate the game. In a way, the producer adds to the fun that is taking place in the game. Both use the weapons to their might. The team of two sexually abused and raped Rosa, the incident brings a lot of views to the reality show; therefore, the producer is excited.
Paco manages to escape them, but with the secret information shared with them by the producer, they find where he is and hurt him to death. It almost feels like the producer is biased toward McStarley. After Conrad kills Saiga, McStarley is alone and weaponless, but Ian Breckel sends him weapons again to kill Conrad. He manages to hurt Conrad, and in an incident, Conrad slips and falls into the waters. And McStarley assumes that Conrad is dead and considers himself the winner of the game. Conrad later kills him, and therefore, the actual winner of the game is Jack Conrad. But Jack Conrad was hardly in it to win. He wants to end the mess created by Ian Breckel and return to his family.
Who is the “Condemned”?
The one who propagates evil is the ‘condemned.’ The prisoners were condemned for their ill deeds. They were punished for the wrong they had done before the law. They were serving their time behind bars. But Ian Breckel, with his novel idea to gain viewers and break the internet, loses control over his ethics. Ian forgets that through this game he is about to conduct, he is going to hurt the criminals. He thinks that they anyway need to be punished, and he decides to punish them by making it a part of a game.
Ian condemns them to a cruel death. He behaves like a god in the case of the movie. He condemns their misdeeds and gives them a sure punishment that the law would have considered otherwise after serving their time in jail. Eventually, Ian Breckel becomes the ‘condemned’ who has lost his morals and ethics. He becomes the ‘condemned’ who has forgotten the values and principles that human beings are made of. And Ian is the ‘condemned’ who deserves a cruel death, which Jack Conrad offers him.
Despite the evil we might have done, no one has the right to condemn us to death in any which way except the law and the God who has given us life. “The Condemned” explains this fact through a game of violence set before us.
Also, Read: The Game (1997): Movie Ending Explained
The Condemned (2007) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
The Condemned (2007) Movie Cast: Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones, Nathan Jones
Where to watch The Condemned
