CKV Verslag

Fighting

Amy Bisai
H4
 Information
Title: Fighting

Director: Dito Montiel

Actors:

Channing Tatum
Terrence Howard
Zulay Henao
Luis Guzmán
Brian J. White

I watched this movie together with a friend

Review

‘’Thanks for checking out our Fighting review. If you’d like to see our quick video version of our
Fighting review you can view it at the bottom of the written version.

I just actually wrote a post the other day here on The Movie Blog asking you guys if anyone was
interested or planning on seeing Fighting. I didn’t ask that because the film looked bad, I simply asked
because despite all the marketing I’ve seen for the film I haven’t heard anyone buzzing about it
whatsoever. Good or bad. Just nothing. For me personally, despite the fact that I love fight movies
and Mixed Martial Arts in general, the film just wasn’t appealing to me. So off I went to see it. I kinda
wish I hadn’t.

THE GOOD

I’ve been getting just a little down on Terrence Howard recently. No doubt he has talent, but he’s
made some questionable decisions about which roles he takes recently, and turned in some mediocre
performances. With that being said, despite not having too much to work with in Fighting, Howard
gives a terrific performance. Not explosive and over the top… but rather penetratingly reserved. His
subtlety made his performance all the more powerful, and actually made me interested in who this
character was. He has a past that the film never fully explains or explores (I like it when a movie
doesn’t feel the need to explain every last thing) and Howard brought so much regret, sadness and
disappointment to his character who is still proud, that you can read the story all over his face. This
was one of those great performances that most people will never talk about because it’s given in a
mediocre film. Shame… Howard really brought it.

The actual combat and fighting in the movie is choreographed in a very gritty and realistic way. It felt
like I was watching a couple of guys actually brawling. Most Hollywood movies go for all the glam
shots. Big haymakers thrown with every punch and wild spinning back kicks. Fighting resists the
temptation to go in that direction and I think it was far more enjoyable for it.
THE BAD

I’m sorry to subject you to my ranting on this same topic again (this is a huge pet peeve of mine), but
the wild and chaotic shaky camera and directionless erratic editing of the fight scenes ruined about
80% of all the fighting in the movie called “Fighting”. They completely crapped all over the terrific
choreography by ruining the scenes because the audience couldn’t tell who was punching who, or
who just threw who because everything was a blurring puke like visual mess. Pathetic. IF YOU DON’T
KNOW HOW TO DIRECT A FIGHT SCENE, GET SOMEONE WHO DOES TO COME IN FOR THE DAY TO
HELP YOU OUT!!!!!!

I know he’s an up and coming star… but Channing Tatum did not impress me in the least. It felt like I
was watching some WWE wrestler trying his hand at acting. His character was actually more
interesting (in theory) than Howard’s character, but unlike Howard, Channing never made me believe
in his character. Never made me interested in who he was or where his life road came from. no
subtlety, no power, no passion. No good.

The romance of the film was completely forced and utterly unbelievable. Other than the fact that the
girl was hot, there is no reason he would have instantly be infatuated with her, and there was
certainly no reason why she would have started giving him the time of day… let alone so instantly fall
madly in love. They met a couple of times, and they were ready to die for each other. Sorry… didn’t
buy it even a little bit.

I know I just said that I enjoy it when a movie doesn’t feel the need to explain every little detail… but
there are some things you do need to reveal to the audience if you want us to be emotionally invested
in the big conflict. The movie never really gives a half decent reason why the lead character and the
“bad guy” hate each other so much. Oh it tells us they have some little rivalry when they were
younger and some “daddy liked you best” sort of stuff… but the shear amount of animosity suggests
there was more to it that the movie either never reveals or never thought of. Left me just not caring
about the “big fight” at the end of the movie.

OVERALL

Fighting was a decent idea for the movie with some sound dramatic plot points that just never really
come to fruition. The fighting in the film is ruined by the dreaded shaky cam syndrome and the main
conflict of the movie never interested me because they made it uninteresting. Terrence Howard
almost singlehandedly saves the film, but even he couldn’t pull it out of the fire. Overall I give Fighting
a 4/10.’

’Source: http://www.themovieblog.com/2009/04/fighting-review
 Form

The story in Fighting took place in New York where it differs from location to location. The more
important locations were; A nightclub, in which the guys hung out, Harvey Boarden’s (Terrance
Howard) apartment, where Shawn McArthur temporarily lived and Zulay’s apartment, where Shawn
and Zulay make out from time to time.
Since the movie was set in present time there was no real costuming needed. The music just did
what music had to do in a movie, it was nothing special or spectacular. The film wasn’t really hard to
follow since everything was filmed in chronological order with some short flashbacks.
Because the movie wasn’t that good I can’t remember any scenes in particular. Just some parts with
Terrance Howard in them stuck with me because of his good acting and my sympathy for him as an
actor. The movie was a fight/action-film.

Content

The synopsis for fighting reads something like this: “In New York City, a young counterfeiter (Tatum)
is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by a seasoned scam artist (Howard), who
becomes his manager on the bare-knuckling brawling circuit.” On top of that we learn that Tatum’s
character has a history with his father, and an elite fighter who was coached by his father.

The characters represent nothing because the movie isn’t trying to get a vision across; it is just made
for commercial means. McArthur is just a really good guy who wants nothing but a quiet life,
Boarden is a real hustler who saw some bad times until McArthur gave him the opportunity to make
something better of his life as McArthur’s manager.

The sublime acting of Terrance Howard hooked me. He did very well as a hopeless street hustler who
knows his way around the block.

My Reaction

The trailer looked pretty cool and since I had some good experiences with western fighting flicks
. After that everything was just a disappointment. Like Paris Hilton is for her parents. Besides
Terrance Howard’s acting there wasn’t really a good side to the movie. The fighting wasn’t good
enough to catch me and that is mostly the downfall in a movie called Fighting.