Review of Champs (2015) by Preston L — 31 Oct 2015
My wife and I (neither one boxing fans in particular) loved, loved, LOVED this movie! We're not sure what the critics who found it "too broad" or "cliched" thought they were watching.
This beautifully rendered film creeps up on you, frame by frame, its foundation based on interviews with three great fighters, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Bernard Hopkins, complemented by several other commentators, including boxing writers, Mark Wahlberg and Spike Lee.
The movie intersperses great clips from the boxers' fights and images of the neighborhoods where they grew up. But what ties it all together are many surprising moments of revelation in the interviews with the boxers themselves-in poignant, impressionistic strokes, the director, Bert Marcus, builds a compellingly human picture of the life struggles, the personal growth and the lessons learned that have defined each of these men, and of the common themes that unite them.
Several of the moments are surprising, and achingly moving. Having conveyed this understanding, Marcus shifts deftly to make a compelling case for reform of the entire boxing establishment, in a personal way that transcends the usual hand wringing pieties on the subject.
This is a director to be watched!
This review of Champs (2015) was written by Preston L on 31 Oct 2015.
Champs has generally received positive reviews.
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