Risen

This is a movie for wannabe film makers, boxers and residents of Merthyr Tydfil only.

Anyone who makes a feature for £200k over five years deserves some respect but that doesn't extend to watching the full two hours of this effort.

You could forgive much of the poor acting by amateurs and ex boxers but the production quality was dire - especially the sound. Dialogue was inaudible in places (suspect Jones directed actors to mutter in scenes leading up to written lines).

A serious re edit, chopping off half an hour, with a new sound track and something to even out the dodgy video grading might raise it to two stars.

There were a couple a laughs though. I particularly enjoyed the scene in the parents house when they're eating a fish and chip supper and drinking red wine - with orange juice for Howard. This is 1950s Merthyr! They'd never seen red wine and orange juice only came in tiny Britvic bottles to have with vodka in the pub.

BTW not wishing to flame another post but to Colin_Coyne, we must have been at the same Q&A showing 14 July so your review would have more credibility if you had basic facts correct. The film ran two hours but you sign off saying it's 90 mins long, which I guess you cut and pasted from elsewhere.

And to reviewer dipsy-lee54, don't worry despite some misinformation about the budget being $3m, it was made for £200k (according to Jones/Brennan at the Q&A)

Tonight I finally got to view "Risen", courtesy of director Neil Jones.

Having already played to a 5-minute standing ovation at the WBC Night Of Champions at Cardiff Arena & with me not exactly being a "target" audience, this must have been somewhat of a come-down for him.

I'm glad to report that "Risen" belies it's 2-hour runtime, moving carefully, but never ponderously, through the life story of Welsh boxing legend Howard Winstone.

A terrific leading performance from Stuart Brennan, at many times absolutely heart-rending, & a solid supporting cast with sly cameos by real boxing stars.

Convincing, wince-inducing fight scenes & an authentic period feel that conquers its budget as good film-making should, this is an obvious labour of love for Jones, a true gem that deserves your time.

Thank you Neil.

Unless you're a die hard boxing fan who must watch any film that includes a boxing glove and a ring, then you can certainly afford to miss this. I was drawn to this film by a Welsh friend who told me that he'd heard it was supposed to be better than Raging Bull - my all time favorite film... I looked on IMDb and apparently this had a 3 million pound budget... after watching it I was left feeling hugely disappointed.

What did they spend £3m on? Shane Richie? The budget sounds made up. The poster with the review from 'New Jersey Film Festival' about it being better than Raging Bull sounds made up.. the cover art of a boxer stood in front of a packed stadium is made up, even 4 of the 5 reviews of this film sounds made up by someone who worked on this film. So much praise for this film is hugely suspicious.

If I hadn't just seen it, I'd think the film was made up.

If I was the director I would not focus on trying to make out that this is the greatest boxing film ever - see it's flaws, learn from it and make something better next time- please.

Ignore all the reviews written by people who aren't boxers, because only a boxer can tell you just how good the fight scenes were in this movie. But if you're one of those armchair critics that think Sylvester Stallone and Mr T are great boxers, or that Robert DeNiro coulda been a contender, then this film is *not* for you.

On the other hand, if you've actually boxed then you'll gasp at the authenticity of the fight scenes in this movie. You'll even double-take as you realise that one of his opponents is played by Erik Morales (world champion at four different weights)! Yes, this film is flawed here and there, and some of the acting is fairly dismal, but who cares? This is a *boxing* film and the one thing they get 100% right is the ring action.

See this movie, and then see Raging Bull - one is a boxer's film, the other is a Hollywood movie. Both are enjoyable to watch and are great biopics, but only one of them gets passed around on DVD at the boxing club....and it's not Raging Bull

There was a good atmosphere in the audience at the start of this film as it was introduced by Stuart Brennan – who plays the lead role in the film, the part of Howard Winstone, with the promise of a Q & A session after the film with director Neil Jones and Stuart Brennan.

RISEN by director Neil Jones, and written by Jones and Stuart Brennan, is the moving, true story of the rising talents of an the young boxer Howard Winstone (later to become an MBE), the boy from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, who was rapidly rising the amateur featherweight ranks as a fighter of some standing with a fearsome right hand …

The future beckoned great things for young Howard until a tragic accident in his workplace that saw him lose the top half of three of the fingers on his right hand … But, even such a cruel twist of fate was merely a temporary set back for Howard, who, when goaded on by his parents, teamed up with boxing trainer Eddie Thomas (himself a former European Welterweight champion) who taught him an alternative way to fight, so that he could still compete in the boxing ring.

Through sheer guts, and determination, and using his new fighting style Howard continued to be successful, being unbeaten in 6 years and winning 83 out of 86 amateur matches. Howard soon turns professional and after another 24 straight wins, he gets a shot at the British Featherweight title against Terry Spinks, which he wins and then goes onto be champion of Europe.

Soon, the next big hurdle is the Featherweight Championship of the World ...

What makes this film stand out is the performances of the characters in the leading roles – Stuart Brennan is excellent as Howard Winstone, John Noble is very convincing as the trainer Eddie Thomas, and Grainne Joughin as Howard's Wife Bennita – there are some fine performances all round by a very well chosen cast.

I say now, that I am not really a fan of boxing – but this film has a lot more to it than that … it shows remarkable courage, determination against tremendous odds and set-backs, it has some quite emotional sequences – even during "the thick of the action" – my favourite stand-out scene was during the third World title fight against Vicente Saldivar – when the world, the crowd and everything else just seemed to fade away … leaving just two giants of the ring slugging it out in slow motion with a backing track of Beethoven's moonlight sonata … it was really quite an emotive scene …

The Direction was sensitive to the subject matter (the Director also hails from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales) … the scenery and ambiance was great, music, acting all pretty accomplished.

In the Q & A session after the film, we met, listened to, and asked questions of Director Neil Jones and Stuart Brennan, who both wrote the screenplay … they were very open to questions and they told us of the difficulties (mostly due to funding) of making this five year labour of love … and it was obvious to all there the passion that these guys had for this film and the subject matter … and it certainly shows through in the finished result. The fight scenes were really quite intimate as well with some very close up camera action – and we assured that the actors really did make contact on several occasions – they weren't just acting ... and some of that blood was real!

I would recommend RISEN to fight fans and for those that would want to see a really well told biopic of a truly courageous, remarkable man … Howard Winstone MBE.

RISEN is 90mins long, is a 12A certificate and will be on general release from May 2011