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 (Manitoba) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | 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:

Revealing mistakes: The bundles of cash used in the movie are badly made props. They were printed with black ink on thick white papers.

Quotes:

Shawn MacArthur: Where are we going?
Harvey Boarden: You're in a $100,000 dollar Mercedes. Thats where were going.

Movie Connections:

References War (2007)

Soundtrack:

So Fresh (Nobody Hot As Me)

Fighting leaves you battered, bruised and bored!

Dito Montiel's film has been advertised as the 'Rocky of our generation', however I do believe they were referring to the fifth film in the Rocky franchise. Predictable, boring, tedious, lifeless are just a few words I could use to describe this film, but I really only need to use one; terrible.

Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) is your typical working-class boy who is taken under the wing of an ageing con-man named Harvey (Terrence Howard) and given the opportunity to make his American dream come true by participating in various back-room bare-knuckle fights. Oh, and the stereotypical love-interest in the form Zulay (Zulay Henao) is also thrown into the mix. Now, despite this description describing various films from the last few years (never mind the last few decades), it contains three huge, jaw-shattering constraints: 1) Despite being named Fighting, the film ironically contains very little fighting or brawling in regards to its hundred-minute running time. And when we do get to see some face-bruising action, the Director seems to get incredibly giddy with the camera and what we are left with is some Paul Greengrass jerkiness that allows you to observe very little especially when the camera is thrown into the heart of the action.

2) Terrence Howard puts a little effort into his character and drags out a performance worthy of a film better than this, however Channing Tatum does not follow his lead. His stony expression and Brando-style mumbling is just plain annoying and unconvincing, yet he is the lead protagonist at the forefront of the film, and his performance drags the film down considerably.

3) Finally, Munic and Montiel's script has about as much weight as a feather and as punch as a fighter out-cold on the mat. We learn little about the characters until late into the film when there life stories seem to just be thrown around quickly to fill various plot-holes. While, the majority of the dialogue is just clichéd and cringe-worthy, most notably a scene at the end of the film that precedes the final fight sequence, which can only be described as hilariously idiotic.

Fighting is crime against cinema. It is a film which gives the audience absolutely nothing, yet takes from them their hard-earned cash in the form of their admittance fee. The only reason I can think why this film was distributed to theatres instead of being a straight-to-DVD affair, is down to the influence of having a star like Terrence Howard in the picture. Don't waste your time or money on this abomination.