Dominic Purcell returns in this week’s edition of Direct to DVD Dissection! This time, it’s in a boxing ring, as we reach into the data banks and pull out some boxing tropes for this film. Is this film a tomato can or a prime contender?
The Story
Haunted by a tragic past, undefeated, washed up boxer Sailor O’Connor is a broken man. When a fluke opportunity arises to step back in the ring, he takes it. His opponent is younger and faster, but with the support of his old fight team, Sailor pushes for this one last fight. Not knowing when to throw in the towel, Sailor must face his personal demons or die trying to stay on his feet throughout a bloody, brutal beating in the ring.
The Cast
Dominic Purcell as Sailor O’Connor, a veteran boxer who has a streak of bad luck that would make BADASS’ Frank Vega pity him. Still, he’s a man that will not be knocked down to his feet, until the potential challenge with Andre the Giant.
Izaak Smith as King, a young upstart with a rocky past of his own, and trying to make a name for himself and escape the life of crime and porn, as well as trying to make things better for his expecting girlfriend.
Famke Janssen as Diane Schuler, a woman with a connection to O’Connor and her own demons to fight over the bottle. It’s where her demons hide. It’s where her demons hide.
The Dissection
To kick it off, the movie starts with two interesting premises.
O’Conner (Purcell) feeling a bit of the brunt from the match.
First, the movie takes place during the boxing match, and jumps back via flashback to set up the events that lead to this. It builds up the characters and plot and slowly fills in the gaps of the event we open with and help to guide the audience to get invested as time goes on. It’s a not a film that revolves around the fight, but more a film that uses the fight to revolve around the fighters themselves and their history.
Another interesting this is that the film, contrary to appearances, breaks down both fighter’s stories and their own trials and tribulations to get to that point. It doesn’t focus on one fighter and just paint the other with a villainous brush the hero will put down. Sailor and King are given time to develop and grow in this film, and the film benefits cause of it.
The movie also has some pretty good talent, although a lot of the heavy hitters aren’t in it for long, breaking up their performances into small pieces that is effective. A lot of the film depends on some of the younger actors, and they do a good job with the material. The actor who plays King, Izzak Smith, gives a pretty good performances, though he does drag a bit at times. Also, it’s nice to see someone like Purcell given something to actually act with, which this film does.
Course, it’s a sports film that does lay on cliche after cliche. If you’ve seen films of this type before, you can pretty much see the events before they happen. Also, the film really does heap a ton of abuse on the two fighter’s lives for the film ends. It almost gets to the point of pointlessness, and something that should have been edited down to keep it a bit more grounded.
Even dressed as a priest, Kim Coates looks like a slimy dude.
The Verdict
It’s good if you’re not tired of the sport movie genre just yet, and it does give some solid acting performances to help build the story that you may have seen before into something you won’t mind watching. Overall, it’s recommended.