Reviewed by Daniel Rutledge
Remember how people got all excited about that movie called Snakes on a Plane? I was wondering why there wasn’t similar hype for Fighting as it does pretty much the same thing.
That is, the title doubles as a synopsis.
So going to a movie with this sort of name could be fun though, like Kickboxer or Bloodsport, yeah? Wrong. The crucial element is obviously the fighting itself, and it fails to deliver.
There are five fights throughout the movie and you probably see about five decent hits in the whole running time. The fights are very much contemporary MMA style rather than old school kung fu, and they’re very much created by an editor rather than a choreographer. Yup, this is yet another MTV style movie that over-edits the heck out of its action so you can’t see what the hell is happening. This is even more irritating knowing that the actors - some of whom are actually genuine MMA stars - are performing actual sparring and often landing hits for real. All for us to not even be able to see it - what a waste!
Channing Tatum plays the main character and mumbles through the film with no charisma at all. That’s kind of appropriate seeing as he’s playing a bare-knuckle prize fighter meathead, but there's very little endearing about him.
The filmmakers are going for the ‘gritty urban’ feel, so there’s none of the comic relief that you’d get in an old Van Damme or Jackie Chan film, and there’s not even the unintentionally funny stuff that those films possess.
Despite all the poor filmmaking decisions made, however, Fighting is not as bad as last year’s similar Never Back Down. A couple of the fights have some ok moments, and there is something about the film that feels very New York, which is nice.
Still, your movie ticket money could easily be spent on something better than this one and a half star outing.
Fighting
:: Director: Dito Montiel
:: Starring: Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Brian White
:: Running Time: 105 mins
:: Rating: M - Violence
:: Release Date: October 8, 2009
:: Trailer: Click here
