Shadowboxer

I saw this film last night and find myself returning to it quite a bit. This is always refreshing since so many movies fly out of your mind the moment the credits roll. I've always loved Helen Mirren since her Prime Suspect series and found her terrific as always. Cuba Gooding was the surprise. I have a new found respect for him as this role was complex and he pulled it off. I really enjoyed their relationship as lovers with a complicated history. It was refreshing and authentic. Stephen Dorff is good at playing bad and he doesn't disappoint here. Macy Gray played a similar role in Training Day and is very good. I didn't really buy Mo'nique - her performance felt contrived. The doctor, her lover was just too pretty, young and sweet and felt miscast. This movie is sooo worth seeing. It's dark, rich & leaves an impression.

I must say that this film is extremely weird. The acting by Cuba Gooding Jr. is not surprising. He always lives up to the roles of the character in most of his movies. He was good. The producer used great colors and slow still images in all right scenes.(especially the love scenes). From start to finish this film is somewhat mysterious. It sticks with you after the ending credits are rolling. You would have to watch it and pay close attention to the dialogue to understand what is really happening. It's not an action movie(although there are scenes of violence), and the only thing that grabs your attention is how the movie actually ends. After seeing how it ends, i must say that the ending was very predictable(thats not to say that the ending was horrible, it was great). If you are into mystery movies you would want to pick this one up, but don't expect anything major. There should be a sequel!

As another reviewer stated, this movie does break rules. But is that enough? And through all the rule-breaking, there still is a core/central storyline that does seem familiar, to say the least. OK so some people will/might be offended by the sexual nature of the movie and or maybe by the violence. Although the latter isn't quite as brutal as some other movie efforts, you might have seen. Why is this special then compared to those movies? The cast plays into that. Who would've imagined, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff and Helen Mirren (although only the latter is a real surprise here). A nice little movie, but apart from the obvious scenes that try to provoke a reaction (especially in America and the moral standards, that are implied by some), this isn't really a movie that I would call a classic! I thought it was OK, but it won't shake up your world ...

** out of ****

For those confused about the summary, let me explain. This is a high quality film. Only talented people could have possibly made this movie. It has good actors, a pretty neat plot, some really creative set design, and some very effective moments and lines. But it is a film filled with some much excess, so many inconsistencies, and so many moments of implausible character choices and results that the overall tone of the film suffers from it.

the film is basically about a stepmother son assassin lover team who get involved with one of their victim's lives. They change her identity and move her out of the country. she has a baby and they help her raise it. Meanwhile, her really sleazy husband is tearing up his associates trying to find her and do whatever he needs to do. Add to the mess an interracial couple who are his only other contact and connection with his wife. it's just a matter of time before they become rats.

Oh, and while all of this is happening, the stepmother(Helen Mirren) has cancer of some sort, their victim appears to fall in love with her son(Cuba Gooding Jr.), the victim's son seems to have some sort of assassin thing going on, and the son wants to quit the killing lifestyle because he doesn't want to hurt anymore parents, i guess. It's really quite creepy.

In all honesty, it's a disgusting film. the violence is way too gratuitous. I actually almost shut it off at the beginning during a scene where a man was about to be impaled through the rectum with a pool cue. I also found all the sex to be distracting more then ever. I never mind sexuality in movies and actually prefer it to violence, but in this, all the sex scenes are so joyless and so graphic, almost violent.

Aside from these, the major flaw in the film is the fact that, despite all the character development, there wasn't a single likable character in the whole film. It's good for a recent Cuba Gooding Jr. film, and there were a couple of good suspense scenes, but it's too uneven.

Rated R for strong graphic violence and sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.

I can't believe I'm agreeing with the other review but Cuba's role did erase snow dogs from my memory. He was phenomenal.

Thats about the only nice thing I can say about this film. It has a number of problems and I suspect Mr. Daniels would not like to hear any of them, the two worst:

1. All shock and no substance. Sex and violence are fine, when they are part of the story. I'm sure Lee thinks they are part of the story, but the film would have been 1000 times better if it were a bit more subtle. This is a difficult point to grasp. I wasn't offended or anything, I just think it looks like he is using this as a crutch instead of art. It comes across as trying to hard to be edgy. It basically loses its impact.

2. Boring Story. So ridiculously predictable. Its really a shame given the great acting and interesting characters. Total fizzle at the end though.

3. Doesn't live up to its potential. Well cast, great acting, beautiful cinematography, but somehow all the pieces just don't fit.