I had to watch THE FIGHT MACHINE last June but back then it was nowhere to be found. Then I let time pass and, to my surprise, on August I found it on one of my streaming sources. I liked it very much (I'll explain why in the following text) but since the following days I noticed an annoying trend: when I saw it the score was 6,0 right? Well, after some weeks the score gradually lowered and to this day it has a score of 5,1 and still one review that gave it a 10. Now this might seem suspicious because... how can a movie have a review that gives it a 10 and yet the score lowering casually weeks after I rated it? An unsolved mystery, but now let's move to the review.
Paul Harris (Greg Hovanessian) is a poor young man that is seen in the beginning training with Lou (Michael Ironside) for a bare-knuckle fighting because Paul really needs the money and if he wins, he'll have it. After a while he meets Rob Tully (Dempsey Bryk) and their paths cross because they are both in the same condition, so they are linked in a way. From then on the movie shifts from Paul training with Lou, Paul's family life (also Rob's family life as well without their respective parents' bickering for their lifestyles), Paul's meeting with gorgeous Barbara Harris (Natasha Henstridge) that at some point they are in a fantasy sequence where she gives him a BJ (can't say the full words for IMDB standards) up until the big ending. Paul has to fight a very tough adversary that looks impossible to beat but despite various hits he manages to survive and give a fatal final hit to the opponent, winning the championship and having lots of money.
In the first half it was slow, with the trainings that are face to face with the trainer (well, considering that when Ironside did this movie he was already 71 I can't blame him) and the scenes of the boys' respective families that certainly looked depressing. But as it progressed it became great. Not just for the Henstridge fantasy sequence but also because Paul became so determined to win the bare-knuckle fight to the point that the viewer can feel his pain and his wanting to change life after the win, and the ending is probably the most satisfying they could have done for this sort of movie.
The main reasons for seeing this are first, the plot. Yes it can manage to remind the viewer of the ROCKY franchise or even the Van Damme classics BLOODSPORT and KICKBOXER but while those movies dealt with boxing and kickboxing this instead deals with bare-knuckle fighting which looks a bit tougher that the two aforementioned fight tecniques.
Second, the acting. While Greg Hovanessian hasn't became a household name (probably because this never went to theaters) he has some nice support from gorgeous Natasha Henstridge and the always reliable Michael Ironside as his trustworthy trainer. Yet I hope the best for Hovanessian and that he makes it big one day because here he certainly gives a great performance about a fighter that is willing of doing anything for winning. Now tell me if that wouldn't be an Oscar-worthy performance if Hovanessian had more recognition.
Overall, if you try this movie, after the viewing give it an honest score (and eventually an honest review) because the fact that the once score of 6,0 now is a 5,0 can really confuse folks curious about this movie. Not to be missed and a great story all around.
