Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Universal Studios Home Entertainment – 105 mins  – 2009 – Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 1.85: 1 – DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 – Digital Copy

Being a huge fan of movies about underdogs and fighting in general, I figured a film like Fighting would be sweeter than sugar. Then within fifteen minutes I knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Was it lame script? Was it the bad stereotypical characters? Was it Channing Tatum’s extremely bad acting? Basically it’s all of the above and more. This is one of those films that have a premise that is usually hard to screw up, but now that theory has been proven very wrong. Fighting comes to Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, but realistically it may be better to get a punch in the face than watch this.

THE MOVIE

Set in New York City, Fighting centers around a street kid named Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum), who gets by selling bootleg items on street corners. When a rival group of street hustlers attempt to rob him and he fights back, he gets the interest of another small time hustler named Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard), who thinks he has what it takes and convinces him to fight in underground punch out tournaments for some real money. Shawn obviously takes the bait seeking cash, and begins to duke it out against various stereotyped opponents like the crazy Russian, the martial arts Asian guy, and the massive goon with no neck who is covered with tattoos. The only person missing from this batch seems to be Chun-Li from Street Fighter.

Obviously there has to be a girl thrown in the mix, so Shawn falls for a Spanish bar girl named Zulay Henao (Zulay Valez), who has some secrets of her own. Shawn’s own past catches up with him when he meets a childhood rival (Brian White), who wouldn’t you know just happens to be the current champ of these fighting tournaments. Go figure. As you would expect, Shawn must duke it out with his old rival in a final fight to show that he is the best.

Directed by Dito Montiel, who’s last film was A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Fighting attempts to be hard edged and gritty, but instead looks like an episode of the TV show New York Undercover. Saints had a style and tone, but Fighting is compressed into a neat PG-13 box, (even though it’s an unrated version), that removes all the rough texture that the film is supposed to have. Another problem with the Fighting, is that you would expect that what it lacked it plot it would make up in kick-ass fight scenes. Nope, that’s not the case here. The fight scenes in this film are so badly choreographed that two children wrestling each other in a sandbox would offer more of a thrill.

Terrence Howard is a good actor, as he proved in Hustle & Flow, but here he’s just going through the motions, which is a shame because he could have been the key to giving this film more. Channing Tatum, who is basically the poor man’s Josh Hartnett (if that’s anything to aspire to), is desperately trying to come off as a sympathetic but tough guy, but he just doesn’t have it. I’m not sure if even Scorsese could pull a rabbit out if this guy’s hat. This new wave of Shia LaBeouf clones may get the tweenie girls hot, but come on, there must be one who can seriously act and command the screen like young Leonardo DiCaprio once did.

If you want to see a good movie about this brutal underground scene, see Fight Club because Fighting is for chumps and girls who have watched crap like Step Up a zillion times. And if you truly love movies, then rent the old Charles Bronson film Hard Times, a good film about street brawling that Fighting rips off unapologetically. This film died a quick death at the box office and the reason why is that movie audiences may be desperate to be entertained…but they’re not that desperate.

VIDEO

What Fighting lacks in story, it makes up for in image quality tenfold. Presented in full 1080p in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the transfer of this film is so sharp that at certain points it looks like you’re looking out the window and seeing it all happen. You can see every line and bead of sweat on the actor’s faces, and being a New Yorker myself, the city looks great displaying all the glory of the big apple. Colors are bright and the blacks stand strong, even during the night sequences the lighting is well executed to bring out details of clothing, face and places.  This one is a visually winner for Blu-ray.

AUDIO

Offering a Dolby Digital DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audi track, Fighting sounds great making use of all the surround speakers. Dialogue (though very bad) sounds crystal clear, allowing you to hear all of Tatum’s mumbling. The fight sequences are where it all shines, allowing you to hear the crowd chanting in the background, objects breaking, and the hard crack every time a fast makes contact. Like the image quality, Fighting’s sound is also top notch.

EXTRAS

What’s going on over at Universal? Where are the bonus features for your new releases lately? Basically all you’re getting is the option to watch either the theatrical or unrated cut, and some lame deleted scenes. Sure, this was a bad film, but come on, throw in a little bling to make up for that. Yeah, there’s a Digital Copy, but so what?

BOTTOM LINE

Unless you’re a teenage girl with posters of Channing Tatum and The Jonas Brothers on your walls, there really isn’t much you’ll get out of Fighting. The Blu-ray delivers an amazing picture quality and great sound, but is completely anemic on the bonus features. This film is no more than a rental, and if  you really want to see a great film about an underdog who uses his fist to rise to the top, there are a series of films by a guy who calls himself the Italian Stallion that do it so much better.

SCORES: (out of 5):

The Movie:  2.0

Video: 4.5

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 1.0

Bottom Line: 2.5