Fighting

Dito Montiel follows up his autobiographical A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints with Fighting. Taking the lead, in this tale of boy from the streets uses fists to make the Yankee Dollar, is Saints alumni Channing Tatum. After a fairly intriguing opening scene, Tatum is taken under his wing by Terrence Howard and entered in underground bare-knuckle fighting matches for the benefit of, mainly, gamblers and high rollers, while Tatum pockets his fight fee and Howard enjoys his cut as well. That’s pretty much it in terms of story line, and after the cut and thrust of Saints this film is a major let-down. The main problem resides in the acting, or lack of acting to be more accurate. Many scenes clearly seem to be improvised, and not to a decent level. If they’re not improvised, then there has to be some major questions asked of the limp screenplay. Tatum mumbles a lot, and the usually dependable Howard monotones his way through with very little deviation to his character, whether he’s sipping an overpriced soda or having his death warrant signed by a local heavy. The love interest for Tatum is played by Zulay Henao, but the two actors lack any spark whatsoever, and at times their scenes (improvised again?) almost grind the movie to a complete halt. Indeed, the whole film crawls along at a slow pace, hampered by a screenplay and direction that seems to tell the actors to emote as little as possible and leave 3 seconds before cueing their next line after someone else has spoken. This is highlighted in a supposed key scene (which, in itself, makes little sense) where Tatum suddenly reacts with such emotion that even two of the other characters seem unaware what has just happened. There are some bright moments though; The fight scenes are handled very competently by Montiel, (these fights are no Hollywood punch fests, but brutal and quick in a way fights in real life are. Though the lack of them in a film called Fighting may have some people asking for a refund), much needed light relief is briefly provided by Altagracia Guzman in the role of Zulay’s over-protective Grandma and Luis Guzman is, well, Luis Guzman. All in all, it’s a bit of mystery how this turned into a such a dud. The storyline is a Hollywood standard, and Montiel had previously teased good performances from a young cast in his prior film. By cutting some of the stilted dialogue and adding another fight, the film would be improved no end. Sadly, as it is, Fighting is no knock-out.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Far too early to write off Montiel, but sluggish pacing and bland acting means this is a missed punch. Best check out David Mamets Redbelt instead. Rating: 3/10.