Review of Fighting (2014) by Omar H — 05 Oct 2009

"Fighting" turned turned out to be a very different film than I expected. Though this was a nice surprise in some ways, it still doesn't mean the movie is very good - simply just a teensy weensy bit better than the absolute crap I imagined.

In the film Channing Tatum gows himself a "street" accent and stars as a former wrestling standout that hooks up with a two-bit loser played by Terrence Howard and ends up fighting in the seedy world of high stakes backyard brawling.

(Which is about as real as Pam Anderson's chest - but whatever). If you're looking for a film along the lines of just about anything staring Jean Claude Van Damme, keep looking. The fights here are short - shot surprisingly well - and leaning more toward the sloppy, short realism of actual street fights.

For the most part "Fighting" is a drama. This isn't an action film, and if you're expecting that, you're going to be disappointed. The problem is that the short fights are the best thing the movie has going for it.

The script is dumb, Channing Tatum is painful to watch, and some of the supporting actors are even worse. Terrence Howard gives a decent, garbly-mouthed performance, but nothing that's going to win him any awards.

While "Fighting" is better than I though it would be, and visually its fairly interesting, in the end it comes off feeling like a poor, poor, poor mans version of Bronson's "Hard Times.

" You're better off skipping this all together and watching Chuck Bronson do his thing.