Fighting (reviewed by Sebastian Ng)

Most films you see in the cinema aim towards a certain ambition, whether it's a Hollywood blockbuster trying to impress the audience with higher quantities of special effects, or a Malaysian movie claiming to be the first musical film, or an experimental film aiming to shock the audience with never-before-seen controversial scenes.

So when I come across a movie like Fighting which seems to ... in fact, I have no idea what its raison d'être is. With such a generic story and not much room to impress the audience with the cast it had (so it has a Academy Award nominee on board; sometimes that doesn't mean anything), the least it could do was try its best to entertain. It didn't.

Fighting is basically an urban film with a white protagonist played by Channing Tatum. It's yet another film about a street kid who gets sucked into the dirty underground world of take-your-pick-of-seedy-underground-activity; in this case, illegal fighting for a betting crowd. Tatum is wooden; his only tool in the arsenal is a disarming smile. Terrence Howard, on the other hand, inexplicably decided to adopt an unsophisticated drawl that borders on annoyance. The best I could say about it is that the acting quality is consistent across the board.

The plot is so predictable that the ending can be seen miles ahead, right down to the final twist. And  the dialogue consists entirely of characters showing each other attitude with uninventive lines ('you got a problem, white boy?', 'I ain't gonna take no shit from you!'). To be fair, that's the case with most urban films.

I kept thinking throughout the film: with drama this ineffective, just cut to the fight scenes already! Here's the problem: the fights, the only thing left about the film that could make it worth the price ticket, is limp and unexciting. There is an almost comical attempt to build up some adrenaline in the lead-up to each of the four fights by using culturally diverse music depending on Tatum's opponent (Russian jig, Japanese taiko drums, etc). Of the four, the only one that strung any suspense for me was when Tatum was pitted against a clearly better-skilled Chinese fighter.

Alright, there is one entertaining scene in the film – when the story trotted out the conservative grandma who's disapproving of a white boy hanging out with her Latina granddaughter. But that's scrapping the bottom of the barrel.

How Good I Think The Film Is: 4/10
How Much I Liked It: 2/10

Cast Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Luis Guzman, Zulay Henao Director Dito Montiel Runtime 105 mins Opens 11 June

Sebastian Ng studied filmmaking at the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood, majoring in Directing and Sound Design but spent most of his time watching movies, and attending film festivals and meet-the-filmmaker sessions. Having returned to Malaysia in 2008, he currently works as a digital production coordinator for Rhythm & Hues Studios (Malaysia). He continues to fuel his passion for film by writing reviews and other ramblings for his blog, Cinematic Concerns.