Fighting (2009)

Director:

Dito Montiel

Writers (WGA):

Robert Munic (written by) and
Dito Montiel (written by)

Release Date:

24 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Some dreams are worth the fight.

Plot:

In New York City, a young counterfeiter is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by a seasoned scam artist, who becomes his manager on the bare-knuckling brawling circuit. |

Plot Keywords:

New York City | Choke Hold | Debt | Hit In The Head | Alabama

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Channing Tatum	...	Shawn MacArthur
Terrence Howard	...	Harvey Boarden
Zulay Henao	...	Zulay Velez
Michael Rivera	...	Ajax
Flaco Navaja	...	Ray Ray
Peter Anthony Tambakis	...	Z (as Peter Tambakis)
Luis Guzmán	...	Martinez
Anthony DeSando	...	Christopher Anthony
Roger Guenveur Smith	...	Jack Dancing
Brian J. White	...	Evan Hailey (as Brian White)
Ivan Martin	...	Stockbroker Jerry
Danny Mastrogiorgio	...	Trader Jim
Altagracia Guzman	...	Alba Guzmán
Gabrielle Pelucco	...	Lila
Angelic Zambrana	...	Kimo's Girl

Also Known As:

Untitled Dito Montiel Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense fight sequences, a sex scene and brief strong language.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44516) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Norway:15 | Iceland:14 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

DeKalb Av/Washington Park, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

In this film, Channing Tatum's character states he is from Birmingham, Alabama and Terrence Howard's character states he is from Chicago, IL. In real life, Tatum was born in Cullman, Alabama and Howard was born in Chicago, IL.

Goofs:

Continuity: Shawn MacArthur crossed the road under heavy rain with wet box, after he went and get back money from Harvey Boarden in minute back on street there was no water, no rain, box are fully dry in some shot even there is no any rainy environment.

Quotes:

Shawn MacArthur: So... What they got rules, or?
Harvey Boarden: Yeah! You lose, you get nothing
Harvey Boarden: Go make som money!

Movie Connections:

References War (2007)

Soundtrack:

Magic

Thinks it has something going on between its biceps when really it hasn't.

Fighting is what you'd call a two round, one-sided slug-fest; in one corner, you have the testosterone, on the other, some guy with his thumb in his mouth because he's been told he's a bad boy. You see, while the highlights of this bout feature some impressive, raw and gritty fight-scenes rather a-typical of the genre, the drawbacks are detractions a little more common. The resulting feature is one that sporadically pleases when it ditches all the superfluous distractions in favour of delivering on its bare-bones title, but also one that too often forgets where its key strengths are and instead insists on inflicting a tepid, one-dimensional romance that goes nowhere on the audience. Considering the average target demographic that a movie titled Fighting is going to draw, and considering their intolerance towards anything mushy, these digressions are a little bewildering but not at all surprising. Sure, it would be nice if those involved managed to craft a little extra depth to what is ostensibly a dumb fighting movie, yet as it stands, Fighting is in amongst the Fast & Furious crowd, rather than the Rocky stands—yeah, it packs a punch, but you see it so very little that you're often left passively watching rather than cheering our hero on.

This confliction certainly isn't a new phenomenon when it comes to bull-headed movies such as these; often when the film-makers sit down to craft these ventures, they will speculatively talk over all the key fight scenes in the movie in depth before turning the page and glimpsing over the sauce that glistens on top of their protein-pumped steak. Okay so this isn't necessarily a bad thing—many movies have managed to balance action with brief moments of romance and softer shades well enough to pass as affecting, but the problem here is that those involved obviously feel uncomfortable with portraying hues of red without it mirroring the blood stains embellished on the concrete outside. Fighting knows its tough and this feeling permeates throughout—which is great for the fight scenes themselves which are realistic and crunch well enough to keep amusement levels above safety levels—but remaining this stoic and transparent when it comes to everything else (drama, romance), Fighting is predictably dull and monotone.

Spearheaded by a one-two combination of Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard, Fighting doesn't necessarily go for star power here, but that doesn't mean that the performances aren't worth their taxes. To be fair, both performers turn in portrayals that—while not necessarily breaking the mould per se—afford the movie its lean name, without much sacrifice to whatever substance is inherent in these kinds of characters. Sure, I could sit here and gripe that Tatum plays his role with a distance throughout or that he never clicks with his romantic interest, and that Howard comes across like he's high on diazepam throughout, but I get the feeling this would be an injustice to them both, and instead would result in me understating how cliché and dry Munic and Montiel's screenplay is; indeed, if it wasn't for Montiel's ability to stage a decent fight sequence, more attention would be brought upon such instances where Tatum is forced to gag up another faux-mush line and we'd all be in trouble.

But in the end, this is what the entirety of Fighting comes down to; whether or not you feel it's worth it to suffer through an hour of mediocre drama in order to see some decent, but certainly not revolutionary—you guessed it—fighting. To its credit, there have been a few absolutely terrible fight movies to come over the past few years that trump this one in terms of pure trashiness, but then looking back at those, I'm reminded that even a couple of those were aware of how braindead and heartless they were. Fighting thinks it has something going on between its biceps when really it hasn't; it's a sluggish battle between heart and brawn, and unfortunately for us, too often we as an audience are left to watch the heart struggle to keep up with the steroids relentlessly building up for something that never truly comes.)