- Joined
- Nov 19, 2011
- Messages
- 56,199
- Reaction score
- 106,062
I just had the pleasure of re-watching one of my favorite films of 2002 for the first time in a decade, and I had forgotten how good it was. But for the first time, I see how it could have been far far better.
Pros -
*The directing & cinematography is on-point.
*There's not a bad performance in the movie.
*One of Peter Falk's final and best roles.
*The build-up to the fight is quite good.
*One of the absolute best fight scenes, ever - And better than most Rocky movies.
*Ving Rhames and Wesley Snipes are VERY believable as heavyweight boxers.
Cons -
*90 minutes long.
*The lack of character development across the board, but especially Wesley Snipes's character.
*It seems the entire prison revolves around the two main characters.
*Ving Rhames's character gets the bulk of development throughout the film, but still seems very two dimensional.
*Final fight has no bruising and cuts, although both fighters are beating the hell out of eachother.
The main complaints I have with the movie are related to its runtime - they didn't have any extra time for much needed character development for both Snipes and Rhames characters, but the other supporting characters, the barbaracism of the prison, and the sanctioned boxing system within the prisons and why they're neccessary.
So many things could have been added to drive up the stakes even higher - more characterization between Rhames and Snipes...
*They were old rivals that never fought?
*A confrontation at the beginning of the movie?
*Both are innocent, and whoever wins gets paroled?
*Whoever loses, gets significant consequences.
*Significant attempts to fix the fight?
And one of the biggest 'What Ifs' I thought -
*What if a prison riot breaks out during the final fight?
Conclusion - Unfortunately, I'm a pessimistic movie-viewer, even for movies I love. I couldn't help but think 'If the decision-makers at Miramax had played their cards right, this could have been a series of boxing movies, like Rocky but R-rated.
Instead, they went to straight-to-video route with some crappy sequels. I think I saw one, but it was completely forgettable.
Aw fuck, I thought this was supposed to be the conclusion? If you haven't seen this movie, watch it sometime. It's a solid 9/10 after you know its flaws before hand. And if you have seen it, but its been a while, watch it again.
Pros -
*The directing & cinematography is on-point.
*There's not a bad performance in the movie.
*One of Peter Falk's final and best roles.
*The build-up to the fight is quite good.
*One of the absolute best fight scenes, ever - And better than most Rocky movies.
*Ving Rhames and Wesley Snipes are VERY believable as heavyweight boxers.
Cons -
*90 minutes long.
*The lack of character development across the board, but especially Wesley Snipes's character.
*It seems the entire prison revolves around the two main characters.
*Ving Rhames's character gets the bulk of development throughout the film, but still seems very two dimensional.
*Final fight has no bruising and cuts, although both fighters are beating the hell out of eachother.
The main complaints I have with the movie are related to its runtime - they didn't have any extra time for much needed character development for both Snipes and Rhames characters, but the other supporting characters, the barbaracism of the prison, and the sanctioned boxing system within the prisons and why they're neccessary.
So many things could have been added to drive up the stakes even higher - more characterization between Rhames and Snipes...
*They were old rivals that never fought?
*A confrontation at the beginning of the movie?
*Both are innocent, and whoever wins gets paroled?
*Whoever loses, gets significant consequences.
*Significant attempts to fix the fight?
And one of the biggest 'What Ifs' I thought -
*What if a prison riot breaks out during the final fight?
Conclusion - Unfortunately, I'm a pessimistic movie-viewer, even for movies I love. I couldn't help but think 'If the decision-makers at Miramax had played their cards right, this could have been a series of boxing movies, like Rocky but R-rated.
Instead, they went to straight-to-video route with some crappy sequels. I think I saw one, but it was completely forgettable.
Aw fuck, I thought this was supposed to be the conclusion? If you haven't seen this movie, watch it sometime. It's a solid 9/10 after you know its flaws before hand. And if you have seen it, but its been a while, watch it again.
