Synopsis: In New York City, a young counterfeiter (Channing Tatum) is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by a seasoned scam artist (Terrence Howard) who becomes his manager on the bare-knuckling brawling circuit.I was actually avoiding this movie as I saw the previews back when it came out in 2009 and thought it looked like it sucked. I caught it on one of my many movie channels over the weekend and was surprised to find that not only did I think it was anti-suck but I was actually entertained by it. Go figure.
Oh, it's not a great movie by any means, but Tatum and Howard are both very good I thought and Tatum's character I actually found sort of likable and sympathetic. Yes, the plot is paper-thin and a bit on the ridiculous side, I realize that, and like I said this isn't going to win any Oscars, but I like action and violence and this delivers with some solid fight scenes.
MMA fans will recognize one of my favorite fighters Cung Le from the Strikeforce organization as an opponent and fans of one of my favorite shows of all-time The Shield will notice Brian White, who played Tavon, as the main protagonist. Also look for the gorgeous Zulay Henao to rest your eyes on a bit and take a break from all the fighting. A nice little cast has been assembled for this and it helps lift the weak and highly predictable (except for a nice twist near the end) storyline I think.
And then of course there's fighting, quite a bit of it but not too much, and what there is well-done and shot in a manner that's up-close and personal and really puts you in the middle of it. It feels real and is definitely violent.
Now don't go running out there and tell all your friends that Cracker says Fighting is an excellent film, but feel free to say I said it's an entertaining, violent film about fist fighting that passes 90 minutes quite nicely.
5.5/10
