Fighting

4 stars

Channing Tatum gets into the street fighting business.

Rating: 14A
Stars: Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Zulay Henao

What’s the story?
Small-town boy Shawn MacArthur (Tatum) is living on the streets in New York City and barely surviving by selling counterfeit products. Soon, he is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by hustler Harvey Boarden (Howard), who partners with him in a bid to make money. In this dark world, Shawn must endure hardships, but his greatest challenge will be the fight to leave the brutal brawling circuit behind.

Why see it?
This is a spectacular movie because the music, actors and plot all come together smoothly. Director Dito Montiel made a smart choice in choosing Channing Tatum to play Shawn MacArthur, as he is able to pull off the athletic bad-attituded character perfectly. The music in this film is particularly well thought out and adds just the right background tone to create suspense and drama in the scenes. This is the kind of movie I would recommend seeing in theatres because you get the big-screen experience of being in the ghetto and living the violent life of Shawn MacArthur.

Problems?
If you’re not into violent, gang-style movies, don’t go see this flick – you’ve already been warned by the title, so know that there is a lot of fighting in the film! Coming in at one hour and 45 minutes, I actually thought Fighting was a little too short, as the beginning of the film moves along too quickly and I would have liked more details as to how Shawn got involved in the street fighting business.

All in all:
Entertaining, but too short – you won’t want the movie to end.