Movie Review: Fighting

Fighting (2009) 

Directed by Dito Montiel 

Written by Robert Munic, Dito Montiel 

Starring Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Luis Guzman, Brian White 

Release Date April 24th, 2009

Published April 24th, 2009 

Fighting is one of the stranger moviegoing experiences of my short career as a critic. I was really, really impressed with the work of director Dito Montiel in creating characters and a universe for them to exist in that felt immediate and real. I was impressed with star Channing Tatum's natural charisma masked within the role of a kid whose a little slow witted but has a big heart. Tatum alongside Oscar winner Terrence Howard deliver performances pitched well above the B-movie grit of the story.

Then an odd thing happens. The end of Fighting arrives and you realize that the story and many of the character motivations made absolutely no sense and moreover, no one seems to have cared to script the ending in any kind of believable fashion. So irritated was I by this complete disregard for storytelling that I cannot even recommend the movie despite being so impressed with so much of what I saw.

In Fighting Channing Tatum plays Shawn McArthur a homeless kid who sells used Ipods and fake Harry Potter books on street corners. One day as he is selling his wares a group of teens attempt to rob him and Shawn defends himself with serious brute force. His fighting style catches the eye of the man who sent the teens to rob him.

His name is Harvey (Terrence Howard) and he happens to work somehow within the shady world of underground fighting and gambling. He finds fighters to bet on or against, depending on whether they are willing to throw fights or are good enough to win fights. Shawn is good enough to win repeatedly though throwing a fight has more of a guarantee of getting paid.

The world of Fighting really comes together in these strange underground worlds where Shawn is brought to fight. They could be the setting for a very cool videogame but they are dressed up well enough that we are convinced of their otherworldly reality and as Shawn fights we are absorbed into the crowds and the bloodlust and we come to cheer for Shawn.

That the fighting scenes are the best in a movie called Fighting is rather the way it should be. That the performances in and around the fights are so intriguing and compelling is a pleasant surprise. Director Dito Montiel infuses life and energy throughout all of Fighting and not just the fight scenes.

So, why do we get to the end and feel so astonishingly short changed? It's truly bizarre. It's as if the production stopped paying screenwriter Robert Munic 2/3's the way through filming and were forced to just make up the rest as they went along. That is literally how slipshod the final scenes of Fighting play. The compromised storytelling is so bad I can't recommend this otherwise exceptionally well made B-movie.

What a shame.