Thanks for checking out our Fighting review. If you’d like to see our quick video version of our Fighting review you can view it at the bottom of the written version.
I just actually wrote a post the other day here on The Movie Blog asking you guys if anyone was interested or planning on seeing Fighting. I didn’t ask that because the film looked bad, I simply asked because despite all the marketing I’ve seen for the film I haven’t heard anyone buzzing about it whatsoever. Good or bad. Just nothing. For me personally, despite the fact that I love fight movies and Mixed Martial Arts in general, the film just wasn’t appealing to me. So off I went to see it. I kinda wish I hadn’t.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for fighting reads something like this: “In New York City, a young counterfeiter (Tatum) is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by a seasoned scam artist (Howard), who becomes his manager on the bare-knuckling brawling circuit.” On top of that we learn that Tatum’s character has a history with his father, and an elite fighter who was coached by his father. Oh the drama of it all.
THE GOOD
I’ve been getting just a little down on Terrence Howard recently. No doubt he has talent, but he’s made some questionable decisions about which roles he takes recently, and turned in some mediocre performances. With that being said, despite not having too much to work with in Fighting, Howard gives a terrific performance. Not explosive and over the top… but rather penetratingly reserved. His subtlety made his performance all the more powerful, and actually made me interested in who this character was. He has a past that the film never fully explains or explores (I like it when a movie doesn’t feel the need to explain every last thing) and Howard brought so much regret, sadness and disapointment to his character who is still proud, that you can read the story all over his face. This was one of those great performances that most people will never talk about because it’s given in a mediocre film. Shame… Howard really brought it.
The actual combat and fighting in the movie is choreographed in a very gritty and realistic way. It felt like I was watching a couple of guys actually brawling. Most Hollywood movies go for all the glam shots. Big haymakers thrown with every punch and wild spinning back kicks. Fighting resists the temptation to go in that direction and I think it was far more enjoyable for it.
There were some very cute girls in it. That’s all I’ve got.
THE BAD
I’m sorry to subject you to my ranting on this same topic again (this is a huge pet peeve of mine), but the wild and chaotic shaky camera and directionless erratic editing of the fight scenes ruined about 80% of all the fighting in the movie called “Fighting”. They completely crapped all over the terrific choreography by ruining the scenes because the audience couldn’t tell who was punching who, or who just threw who because everything was a blurring puke like visual mess. Pathetic. IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO DIRECT A FIGHT SCENE, GET SOMEONE WHO DOES TO COME IN FOR THE DAY TO HELP YOU OUT!!!!!!
I know he’s an up and coming star… but Channing Tatum did not impress me in the least. It felt like I was watching some WWE wrestler trying his hand at acting. His character was actually more interesting (in theory) than Howard’s character, but unlike Howard, Channing never made me believe in his character. Never made me interested in who he was or where his life road came from. no subtlety, no power, no passion. No good.
The romance of the film was completely forced and utterly unbelievable. Other than the fact that the girl was hot, there is no reason he would have instantly be infatuated with her, and there was certainly no reason why she would have started giving him the time of day… let alone so instantly fall madly in love. They met a couple of times, and they were ready to die for each other. Sorry… didn’t buy it even a little bit.
I know I just said that I enjoy it when a movie doesn’t feel the need to explain every little detail… but there are some things you do need to reveal to the audience if you want us to be emotionally invested in the big conflict. The movie never really gives a half decent reason why the lead character and the “bad guy” hate each other so much. Oh it tells us they have some little rivalry when they were younger and some “daddy liked you best” sort of stuff… but the shear amount of animosity suggests there was more to it that the movie either never reveals or never thought of. Left me just not caring about the “big fight” at the end of the movie.
OVERALL
Fighting was a decent idea for the movie with some sound dramatic plot points that just never really come to fruition. The fighting in the film is ruined by the dreaded shaky cam syndrome and the main conflict of the movie never interested me because they made it uninteresting. Terrence Howard almost singlehandedly saves the film, but even he couldn’t pull it out of the fire. Overall I give Fighting a 4/10.
You can watch the video version of our Fighting review here:
