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Cast: Terrence Howard, Channing Tatum, Zulay Henao, Luis Guzman, Brian White
Small-town boy Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Public Enemies) knows firsthand that every day in New York City is a struggle to survive. So when scam artist Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard, Iron Man, Hustle and Flow) gives him a chance to be something more in the brutal underground world of bare-knuckle street-fighting, Shawn decides that he has something worth fighting for and puts everything on the line to win. Every knockout brings him closer to the life he's always wanted, but also traps him in a dangerous web he can't escape.
I remember seeing the trailer to Fighting before it hit theaters and thought then that it looked to be more "B" film than anything else but like always I kept an open mind about it till I had a chance to see it for myself. The film is about a street-wise young man who works the streets of New York trying to make some cash selling stuff out of a bag, one day he is targeted by a scam artist looking to recruit guys into the illegal underground fighting circuit. Shawn doesn't want anything to do with it at first but after making some cash winning his first fight he imagines a better life and with his fighting skills he might of just found the ticket. There has been a number of movies like this one as of late dealing with fighting so there isn't anything new or original here. When making a film such as this you got to make sure you got one or two things going for you, either lots of incredible fights scenes or some deep, effective drama that reaches out to the audience and draws them in. Fighting has both action and drama but neither seems to be effective enough to make the film anything more than a plain action flick. The fighting scenes are raw and some what powerful but there just isn't enough of them in the movie to make a difference and the story isn't realistic or dramatic enough to have you care for the characters enough. The film does have a few good things going for it like as I mentioned the few fights are well done and also the acting is pretty solid as well. There was potential here but the writing and direction seemed to let the film down in the end. I think that this is worth a watch just don't expect anything ground-breaking or special here. The film seems more a showcase of its young star, Channing Tatum than anything else. The DVD comes with both the Theatrical and the Unrated versions, I watched the Unrated version to review it and it made me wonder how much more tame the theatrical version could be because I didn't see anything in the unrated version I watched to consider it be be unrated. Watchable but nothing special but for those that like the genre and movies about fighting then I recommend you give this a shot just keep your exceptions low and your might find it to be entertaining. The DVD comes with Special Features that include:
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Disc 1: Theatrical Release/Unrated Version Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - French, Spanish
Subtitles - English, SDH, French, Spanish
Additional Release Material:
Deleted Scenes
Disc 1: Unrated Version
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - Spanish
Subtitles - English, SDH, French, Spanish
Universal Studios Home Entertainment. ** 1/4Out Of *****