Review of Hands of Stone (2016) by Dave R — 31 Aug 2016

Back in the late 70's early 80's was when I can first remember being a big sports fan, as my brother started to receive Sports Illustrated. During that time and growing up in Maryland, Sugar Ray Leonard was a big deal because he lived in the same county as I did.

So the two Leonard/Roberto Duran fights were also hot topics, even though I didn't get to watch either live. I remember the Washington Post and SI covers after the second fight with the No Mas headline, and up until a recent 30 for 30 movie on ESPN, never fully had an appreciation for Duran.

The movie, Hands of Stone, is excellent at giving us a sense of who Duran is and his motivation behind all he did. There certainly is some apologist history that paints Duran in a sympathetic light for the No Mas fight in which the world thought he simply gave up.

I still believe he did, but now know more behind why he did. Robert De Niro in his third boxing movie is solid as Duran's trainer and the boxing sequences are solid as well. Even at only 105 minutes there are a few stretches that seem dragged out, and the writing is good but not great.

This movie won't grip you like say Creed did last year, but it is still very solid.