10:57am Thursday 14th May 2009
By Damon Smith
Strutting down similar avenues to David Fincher’s Fight Club, albeit without that film’s biting wit and directorial pizzazz, Fighting (15) is a no-holds-barred tale of one young man’s introduction to the bare-knuckle brawl scene in present day New York City.
Writer-director Dito Montiel, who made an assured debut with A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, reunites with rising star Channing Tatum, who copes magnificently with the extreme physical demands of his role. Montiel unleashes a series of unflinchingly brutal brawls set to a thunderous soundtrack of R&B and hip-hop beats courtesy of Rick Ross, Robin Thicke, Amerie and Ghostman MC. Competitors pile-drive one another’s heads into marble floors and smash ribs to smithereens, accompanied by sickening sound effects that leave us wincing in our seats.
The Marquess of Queensberry rules hold no sway here: it’s win at all costs even if that means your rival leaves the arena in a wooden casket.
Shawn MacArthur (Tatum) lives from one day to the next by selling counterfeit goods on street corners. When a fight breaks out, scam artist Harvey Boarden (Howard) spots Shawn’s raw potential and offers to make the young man 5,000 dollars minus expenses for one brawl.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/trade_directory/