Movie Review- Fighting

So i get it, UFC and underground fighting is a big deal. Movies like "Never Back Down" and "Never Surrender" are staples with fighting fans. Thus the movie Fighting is born.

"Fighting" is a movie about a young tortured soul named Sean (Channing Tatum) . Sean has fallen on hard times and is now homeless and selling DVDs and books on the street. After a tussle with other territorial hustlers Sean catches the eye of Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard), another tortured soul tried to work his way up the ranks in the underground fighting world. Harvey recruits Sean with promises of money to join the underworld. As Sean success grows he's is lured into the biggest fight of both he and Harvey's life when he is persuaded to fight the big dog on the block.

PROS:
Any fighting fan will love the fight scenes. The scenes are very realistic and of course you gotta love anything that makes you yell "OH" more than 3 times in a 2 minute scene has to be good, right?

CONS:
It seems that the writers and other powers that be decided that as long as you have decent fight scenes the acting and the plot don't really matter. The cast as a whole seemed to phone it in. Tatum stayed primarily one note 3/4 of the movie. Instead of letting his mysterious character Sean reveal things through his acting he didn't react accordingly until it was revealed in the dialogue. Terrence Howard flounders in yet another questionable film choice since his Oscar nomination. Unlike Tatum's character, Howard's Harvey Boarden's motivation and purpose was never revealed fully.

RECOMMENDATION:
Wait til it comes on HBO.

WRITER:
ROBERT MUNIC
DITO MONTIEL

DIRECTOR:
DITO MONTIEL

MAIN CAST:
Channing Tatum ("Step Up", "G.I. Joe")
Terrence Howard ("Hustle and Flow", "Crash")
Zulay Henao ("Illegal Tender", "S.Darko")
Luis Guzman ("Waiting...", "Boogie Nights")
Roger Gueneveur Smith ("He Got Game, "American Gangster")
Brian J. White ("Mr. 3000", "Stomp the Yard")

Similar Titles:
Never Back Down, Never Surrender, RedBelt