Review of Jawbone (2017) by Richard S — 03 Aug 2017

If you're going to make a gritty boxing drama, you can't really go wrong with a cast made up of Johnny Harris, Ray Winstone, Michael Smiley and Ian McShane. The film is written by central lead Johnny Harris, a British actor I can always make time for as I think he is superb when given the right script.

It follows a former champ who finds himself at the bottom of the barrel, dependent on alcohol and only days away from being made homeless. However, this isn't your usual inspirational rags to riches boxing movie complete with training montages and fist pumping music.

This is a gritty hard slog with a character who isn't always likeable and he's not training for the championship, this is dirty, brutal underground, unlicensed boxing for a chance to earn bigger and quicker so he can crawl out of the hole he has found himself in.

There isn't lots of boxing throughout, we don't see our lead man work his way up the ladder, this is a last ditch attempt and as a result he goes straight for the top and so we don't see the big match until the end of the movie but it's well choreographed and the camerawork puts you right in the ring.

Although different in tone and style, this one quite easily sits alongside other great boxing movies such as Rocky and Southpaw.