Fighting

There is an excellent film in the movie Fighting but as illustrated by the unimaginative title the great story isn't really on display.

Films involving fighting are a dime a dozen these days so what sets one apart from the other is the story. Fight Club has a lot to answer for.

Fighting is a grittier film than most of the genre and that's where the storytelling gets lost. The fight scenes are raw and brutal, almost primal.

The last movie like this I saw was Never Back Down and while it had its flaws the story was there, the characters were three dimensional and it just seemed to work.

The big problem with Fighting is that the two lead characters are two dimensional at best and have little chemistry. Shawn McArthur (Channing Tatum) is trying to make a life in New York but is forced to hustling books on the street to make cash. It's there he meets Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) who is not dissimilar to Shawn but seems to have a network.

Harvey discovers that Shawn can handle himself in a fistfight and swoops in to manage his underground fighting career, with the carrot of a minimum $10,000 if he wins.

This is all well and good for me but we really don't find out too much more about Harvey other than he's struggling to make ends meet despite the appearances.

Shawn, we learn, despises his father and this comes to a head when Evan Hailey (Brian White) re-enters his life. Hailey trained with Shawn under his father's coaching and was the preferred protege. Thus we have the tension of the past.

Like I've said, I think there's a good movie here but a lack of imagination has prevented it from being made. That said, I did enjoy it somewhat.

Channing Tatum is not a great actor, or his character is highly underdeveloped, and I suggest he is there because of his imposing stature. The best thing about Fighting is the realness of the fight scenes, though they are a bit short at times. I wouldn't say don't see it, because I'm giving it a 7 out of 10, I'd just love to see this film if it were a 9.