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IMDbPro

Hands of Stone

  • 2016
  • R
  • 1h 51m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
17K
YOUR RATING
Hands of Stone (2016)
Follows the life of Roberto Duran, who made his professional debut in 1968 as a 16-year-old and retired in 2002 at age 50. In June 1980, he defeated Sugar Ray Leonard to capture the WBC welterweight title but shocked the boxing world by returning to his corner in the November rematch, saying 'no mas' (no more).
Play trailer0:57
40 Videos
69 Photos
BiographyDramaSport

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

  • Director
    • Jonathan Jakubowicz
  • Writer
    • Jonathan Jakubowicz
  • Stars
    • Edgar Ramírez
    • Usher
    • Robert De Niro
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    17K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jonathan Jakubowicz
    • Writer
      • Jonathan Jakubowicz
    • Stars
      • Edgar Ramírez
      • Usher
      • Robert De Niro
    • 56User reviews
    • 78Critic reviews
    • 54Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos40

    Hands of Stone
    Music Video 2:27
    Watch Hands of Stone
    Red Band Trailer
    Trailer 1:17
    Watch Red Band Trailer
    Teaser Trailer
    Trailer 0:57
    Watch Teaser Trailer
    HANDS OF STONE - Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:13
    Watch HANDS OF STONE - Official Trailer
    Sugar Ray Calls For A Rematch
    Clip 1:31
    Watch Sugar Ray Calls For A Rematch
    Leonard Vs Duran
    Clip 0:41
    Watch Leonard Vs Duran
    Training Montage
    Clip 1:05
    Watch Training Montage
    Hands of Stone
    Clip 1:33
    Watch Hands of Stone
    Hands of Stone
    Clip 1:07
    Watch Hands of Stone
    Hands Of Stone: Sugar Ray Calls For A Rematch
    Clip 1:31
    Watch Hands Of Stone: Sugar Ray Calls For A Rematch
    Hands Of Stone: Growing Up To Be A Boxer
    Clip 1:05
    Watch Hands Of Stone: Growing Up To Be A Boxer
    Hands Of Stone: Leonard V. Duran First Fight
    Clip 0:40
    Watch Hands Of Stone: Leonard V. Duran First Fight

    Photos69

    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Usher and Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Edgar Ramírez and Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Usher, Edgar Ramírez, and Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)
    Ana de Armas at an event for Hands of Stone (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Edgar Ramírez
    Edgar Ramírez
    • Roberto Durán
    Usher
    Usher
    • Sugar Ray Leonard
    • (as Usher Raymond IV)
    Robert De Niro
    Robert De Niro
    • Ray Arcel
    Rubén Blades
    Rubén Blades
    • Carlos Eleta
    Ana de Armas
    Ana de Armas
    • Felicidad Iglesias
    Pedro Perez
    • Plomo
    • (as Pedro 'Budú' Pérez)
    Óscar Jaenada
    Óscar Jaenada
    • Chaflan
    John Turturro
    John Turturro
    • Frankie Carbo
    Ellen Barkin
    Ellen Barkin
    • Stephanie Arcel
    Jurnee Smollett
    Jurnee Smollett
    • Juanita Leonard
    • (as Jurnee Smollett-Bell)
    Yancey Arias
    Yancey Arias
    • Benny Huertas
    Drena De Niro
    Drena De Niro
    • Adele
    Ilza Ponko
    Ilza Ponko
    • Clara Samaniego
    • (as Ilza Rosario)
    Anthony Molinari
    Anthony Molinari
    • Marine Molinari
    Rick Avery
    Rick Avery
    • Gil Clancey
    Robb Skyler
    Robb Skyler
    • Howard Cosell
    Joe Urla
    Joe Urla
    • Angelo Dundee
    Eliud Garcia Kauffman
    Eliud Garcia Kauffman
    • Margarito Duran
    • (as Eliud Kauffman)
    • Director
      • Jonathan Jakubowicz
    • Writer
      • Jonathan Jakubowicz
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Robert De Niro met the real Ray Arcel around the time he appeared in Raging Bull (1980).
    • Goofs
      Some of the cars in the film are wrong for the period. For example, when Roberto first meets Felicidad it is supposed to be in 1971 but they walk past a green Chevy Malibu model that was not built until 1973. Also, set in 1971, Roberto is leaning back trying to look cool for Felicidad and there is a Ford Granada parked on the street. The Ford Granada was not built until 1975.
    • Quotes

      Ray Arcel: [on phone with Durén] The American you're talking to now, he gave you the best years of his life.

    • Connections
      Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Robert De Niro/Jordan Spieth/Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      Champions
      Performed by Usher (as Usher Raymond IV) & Rubén Blades

      Written by Raphael Saadiq,Taura Stinson, Usher IV and Rubén Blades

      Usher /Usher appears courtesy of RCA RECORDS

      © 2015 Sony Classical

    User reviews56

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    A history lesson disguised as a boxing movie.
    In 1971, Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez) fights at Madison Square Garden - an incredible accomplishment at a notable venue, considering Duran's humble origins. The eventual lightweight champion's story is narrated by his legendary trainer, Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro), a man who helped thousands of boxers master the sport, and who now must teach the kid strategy and discipline to become a true winner. And taking into account De Niro's own expertise with boxing movies, it's difficult not to trust everything he says about the up-and-comer. But despite star power, a respectable budget, and suitable performances, the film is an utter failure when it comes to visual style, technical execution, and storytelling.

    The first problem is the narrative, which alternates between the past and the present, hoping to shed some light on the traumatic events that shaped each player. But it goes too far, wasting time on Arcel's personal drama (including estrangement from a daughter) while also focusing pointlessly on the supporting characters that interact with him. This should be Duran's story, but quite routinely, it pays unnecessary attention to Arcel, promoter Carlos Eleta (Ruben Blades), wiseguy Frankie Carbo (John Turturro), childhood pal Chaflan (Oscar Jaenada), and even the primary opponent, Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond). This is especially detrimental when Duran inevitably falls from grace; it allows the audience to lose interest in - and concern for - the antihero at the heart of it all, since there are so many other characters to follow. Even Roberto's wife Felicidad (Ana de Armas) is more sympathetic and believable (she's also featured in the only amusing scene, involving pleasurable intercourse that shifts into torturous childbirth).

    All of the cutting back and forth in the timeline is dreadfully commonplace - as well as irritating - lending to the feeling that this biographical yarn is so familiar and clichéd that twisting up its chronology must surely confuse audiences into thinking that it's modern and fresh. This leads into the second problem: "Hands of Stone" quickly becomes a history lesson disguised as a boxing movie.The 1964 Panama Canal Zone rioting was a significant, potent piece of a longstanding territorial conflict, but it just doesn't fit seamlessly into a film about Duran's rise and fall in the ring. The idea of fighting his whole life becomes comically downplayed when he's shown to literally begin streetfighting as a preteen on the poverty-ridden streets of El Chorrillo, before receiving more formal training by a coach at a local gym. And then there's time for a love story, which follows the typical course of recklessness with wealth and eventually drunken abuse.

    It's not enough to be an inspirational sports drama anymore - and definitely not when it comes to boxing, which has seen a tremendous quantity of theatrical efforts in the last few years alone. Just like Duran's immoral choices when it comes to psychological warfare and his motives for controversially (and famously) stopping his rematch against Leonard (depicted here to involve unscrupulous actions by a greedy agent and a mental defeat rather than overconfident slacking), "Hands of Stone" seems to have been made for all the wrong reasons. At times it's a bit of patriotic propaganda for Panama (it regularly resembles advertising or promotion instead of entertainment); at others it's an account of a detestable athlete, incapable of handling riches and celebrity - and certainly written poorly enough that he's irredeemable as a hero (a penultimate redemption bout is portrayed to be painfully trivial). Audiences are also supposed to believe (inconceivably) that this hotheaded brute used superior intelligence to distract his nemesis, rather than merely spitting out insults in the heat of the moment.

    In its hastiness to chronicle the singular Panamanian star, the film also can't be bothered with acceptable editing and structuring techniques; fades, cuts, fight choreography, and transitions betray severely amateurish efforts. Sequences are included out of expectation, not creativity; training montages, the segueing of rounds, and even sex/nudity appear because the filmmakers think these moments are anticipated - or required. For viewers unaware of the 1980 "Brawl in Montreal" and the rematch that followed later in the same year, "Hands of Stone" at least presents an unexpected (though not entirely satisfying) third option to that age-old dilemma of any pugilist showdown: the protagonist can only win or lose, and both choices have been previously, repeatedly committed to celluloid.

    • The Massie Twins (GoneWithTheTwins.com)
    helpful•10
    8
    • GoneWithTheTwins_com
    • Aug 25, 2016

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 26, 2016 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Panama
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official Facebook
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Bàn Tay Đá
    • Filming locations
      • Panama
    • Production companies
      • Fuego Films
      • Epicentral Studios
      • La Piedra Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $20,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $4,712,792
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $1,751,388
      • Aug 28, 2016
    • Gross worldwide
      • $4,978,353
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 51 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Atmos
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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