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Friday
24Apr2009

Movie Review - 'Fighting'

DateFriday, April 24, 2009 at 12:32AM
Fighting

Starring Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard
Directed by Dito Montiel
Rated PG-13

fightingposter.jpg Every now and then, a performance comes along that is so good by comparison to the rest of everything else in the movie that you can't believe it didn't raise the game of the portrayals around it or they didn't dillute the good right out of it completely. Fighting is not a good movie; it's too incomplete for that. But the realization of Terrence Howard is so much fun to watch and so far beyond its surroundings that it either makes his work that much better or the film that much worse.

We'll go with the film being that much worse.

It's not the first time Howard has done this. Hart's War is not a great film (it's better than Fighting, though) but Howard was clearly outpacing the material. If memory serves, he was better than everything else in Glitter, but we'll just accept that that was bound to happen, anyway.

In Fighting, Howard plays Harvey Boarden, a New York City street hustler. He brokers in Broadway tickets in knockoff Rolexes. But the real money is in promoting bareknuckle brawlers in an underground fighting circuit. He takes a shine to Sean McArthur (Channing Tatum), a kid out of nowhere who displays instinctive pugilistic skills when fighting off thieves. Together, Harvey figures, he can make them both incredibly rich.

Oh, if only writer-director Dito Montiel had that same dedication to his poor and porous story. McArthur's backstory exists only as a reason to put him in New York without a roof over his head, but the way it ties into the rest of the story fits like your favorite pair of shorts from high school.

Even with those problems, Fighting might have worked if Channing Tatum could act. I've seen him in a few things, and curiously enough, it was his work in Montiel's A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints that hinted at some potential. That was either a fluke or he just hasn't tried since. His character in Fighting certainly doesn't take much effort, but he plays every scene like he's asleep. And underwater. While speaking a third language. Backwards. With a gun to his head.

While watching listlessly, I kept thinking what kind of movie Montiel could have had if it had been about the character that is both developed and worth exploring. Howard gives it his all, but he's the only one. And unfortunately, as strange and cool as his performance is, he should have saved it for a better movie.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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