Fighting seems like one of those movies in which you know what it’s about and how it’s going to end. Now this might be true, but you don’t know how much of a story there is and how there is not as much fighting as you would think…and that is a good thing. Re-teaming with Channing Tatum, director Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) doesn’t let the fighting speak for his movie. Instead, he invests time in his characters and their struggle for respect.
Shawn MacArthur (Tatum) is from Alabama, but makes his way to New York and is barely getting by. He makes money by selling fake Harry Potter books. So he doesn’t have much money until he meets Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard), who is a scam-artist that finds new guys to fight underground for lots of cash. It must be Shawn’s lucky day. Shawn and Harvey are in the business of fighting, but their personal lives are consumed by it as well. They have a history of fighting in more than one way. However, they both meet in New York and start a unique partnership and friendship. They are both tested and underestimated, all the while looking for a way out.
Tatum has been showing he can act in his past few movies. I use this movie as one of those examples. He fits his character really well and is very believable. Howard is a nice sidekick, but I miss the old Terrence. The one who stole the show in Hustle and Flow and Crash. He also decides to use a unique accent for the movie. Harvey is from Chicago, but I’m not quite sure if the accent is. It becomes a little distracting and confusing. He’s still good in this, but we’ve seen better from him. The movie mainly belongs to Tatum.
Overall, Fighting is pretty good. The fighting scenes are more realistic than most fighting scenes in movies today. It’s a gritty movie that shows how money can be made by using your fists. Lots of money. But it’s the depth of these characters that make it better than average. You learn about them and find out who they are and where they came from. If you think this movie seems like mindless entertainment, then you are wrong. It’s smarter and better than you think or may want to admit.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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