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Fighting: Unrated
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (24th October 2009). |
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The Film
 I’ve always had a fondness for the street fighter subgenre of films. Maybe it’s the sadist in me, but I love watching the archetypal street-savvy loser-with-a-fist-of-iron work his way up through the ranks to beat the best the streets have to offer. In my opinion, no other film has perfectly encompassed this better than 1975’s fantastic “Hard Times”, starring Charles Bronson, James Coburn and directed by Walter Hill. It is the apex of the street fighter film subgenre. Cut to 15 years later, when we were given “Lionheart” (1990), the third of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s tournament-style films. That particular picture took many cues from “Hard Times”, but it still managed to be its own movie. But “Fighting” (2009), however, is simply a cheap carbon-copy of “Lionheart”, except it features a cast notable only for plumbing the depths of bad acting. What’s worse, this could have been a decent picture had the filmmakers cast anyone other than Channing Tatum, who is easily the least screen-worthy actor to hit the screen since Carrot Top made his pathetic silver screen debut with “Chairman of the Board” (1998). Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) is a down-on-his-luck street hustler who makes a living selling bootleg “Harry Potter” novels until he gets ripped off one afternoon by some street punks. After handing them an appropriate beating, he catches the eye of another street hustler, Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard). Boarden senses that he could use Shawn’s skills as a fighter to reclaim the high roller status he once enjoyed on the streets, so he dangles the proverbial carrot of large paydays in front of Shawn to insure his participation. In typically clichéd fashion he: finds a girl, Zulay (Zulay Henao), who is mixed up with Harvey, gets confronted by his former friend, Evan Hailey (Brian White), and is, of course, forced to fight him in a final showdown he’s all but guaranteed to lose. The big problem with “Fighting” isn’t the film itself. Sure, the plot has been regurgitated so many times you could feed it to a nest of baby chicks, but films like this aren’t made to be Oscar-caliber; they exist simply to showcase some badass brawls. And this film certainly does just that. Shawn is an unproven street fighter, and his first couple of fights don’t go as you might expect. He’s petulant and green; a novice to this underground world which has existed for so long without his participation. His lack of in-ring prowess shows through from his first fight, but the kid has heart. And we all know how far that will take you in this type of film. But the fact that you can even somewhat question whether or not he will win his battles helps to make the fighting that much more intriguing. It also helps that the fights look real, like these guys are really going at it with all they’ve got. There’s no mugging for the camera here, these guys beat some serious ass. So, what’s the films’ biggest problem then? The actors. Channing Tatum must have made a deal with Satan himself to get a Hollywood career. How this guy gets cast in leading roles is beyond me. Hell, Stephen Sommers chose him to head up his summer blockbuster, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (2009). Tatum has all the charisma of a cardboard box filled with dead squirrels. His droopy-eyed, sloth-like delivery did its best to put me to sleep. In fact, anyone can make their own Channing Tatum movie at home. Here’s how: obtain a cardboard cutout of Tatum, place in front of a camera, hit record, then sit back and watch the results. To say he lacks acting skills would be akin to saying Adolf Hitler lacked compassion. He’s dreadful. Yet, surprisingly enough, he didn’t provide the film’s worst performance. That (dis)honor would go to Terrence Howard. I don’t know what he was thinking with his role as Harvey Boarden. The guy isn’t a bad actor. I thought he did just fine in “Iron Man” (2008), but between then and now he must’ve gotten high on someone’s supply. He plays the character with an accent and speech inflections that I can only describe as a nervous, mentally-challenged homosexual. In fact, I found my enjoyment of the film increased two-fold once I had made the decision that’s who his character was. I’m not sure if he was going for some specific kind of accent here or not, but he’s playing a guy from Chicago who’s been living in New York, and he sounds like he doesn’t belong in either location. Honestly, it was embarrassing and laughably bad watching him give this performance. One major point that gave the film a marginal pass in my eyes was the decision to shoot on-location in New York City. I love New York; it’s my favorite city in the world. The production made the most of the many locations available by showcasing some gorgeous shots of the city’s skyline, as well as the gritty streets where the action is taking place. Many films that are set in New York these days are actually shot in Canada, or elsewhere, so it was refreshing to see a film that takes place in New York actually shot there. I enjoyed the realism present in each of the film’s fights, but there didn’t seem to be enough of them to justify Shawn’s meteoric ascent to the top of the chain. His first two fights were hardly noteworthy, and he gets his big shot at his main rival off of one single, albeit impressive, victory. But the fights are brutal. You can almost feel the hits sitting at home. And director Dito Montiel wisely chose some fitting locations for each brawl, with the final fight taking place on the balcony of a high-rise penthouse. The aerial shots taken via helicopter are quite stunning. He also refrains, mostly, from allowing his cameraman to have a seizure each time a fight begins, so we often get a clear look at the action taking place. Considering everyone and his brother shoots an action scene as though the camera were in a blender, this is a welcomed look indeed. This Blu-ray disc includes both the 'PG-13' version and "Unrated" cuts of the film. The difference between the two is 3 minutes, though I’m not sure what the extra footage entails. Probably extended fight scenes among other minor extensions.
Video
The film’s 1.85:1 1080p 24/fps VC-1 encoded image looks just about perfect. Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky does a fantastic job capturing New York in all its glory, from dank, rain-slicked urban streets to the colorful array of neon and lights in Times Square. Skin tones look to be perfectly reproduced, and black levels remain rich & dark throughout the film. Fine detail is exemplary, with every nuance of the littered streets and store windows clearly in display. I did find the image to be lacking the kind of clarity that gives some Blu-ray discs that three-dimensional “pop” that so many videophiles yearn for, but otherwise this is a very impressive transfer.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit hits hard when it has to. A good portion of the film’s soundtrack is dedicated to bass-booming hip-hop music, and your speakers and subwoofer take a pounding because of it. Surrounds are given some nice filler by way of the city’s near-constant stream of noise. Ambulances pass by, police sirens screech through the streets, passersby talk and converse on sidewalks. There were times I thought someone else was upstairs in my house until I realized it was the film’s rear channels psyching me out. Spanish and French DTS 5.1 surround sound tracks are also included. Subtitles are available for English for the hearing impaired, Spanish and French.
Extras
“Fighting” gets its ass handed to it by Universal in terms of bonus features. We simply get a reel of deleted scenes and a digital copy of the "Unrated" cut of the film. The disc is also D-BOX motion code enabled and has a link for BD-Live access. DISC ONE: A reel of deleted scenes runs for 8 minutes and 3 seconds. They are not available to watch individually. Most are minor extensions which would have added nothing but a longer running time to the film. Universal’s standard “MyScenes” bookmark feature is included. The Blu-ray is also D-BOX motion code enabled, so those with the proper home theater equipment can utilize that feature if they wish to. Finally, the disc is has a BD-Live link which leads to the standard Universal Studios home page. No content specific to the film is available. DISC TWO: This is a digital copy of the film’s "Unrated" cut for portable media devices.
Packaging
Along with the standard little blue amaray case, “Fighting” gets itself a spiffy embossed slip-cover which features the same art as the disc cover.
Overall
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