The Challenger

A lot of shade was thrown on this film that's a bit over the top IMO. I'm not exactly sure who the target audience is for this film. Definitely not boxing aficionados who have already shared their lamentations. It's too gritty and violent for the Up! Family Network. The two main fighters are super good looking but neither of them were stalkers or were being stalked or lived a secret life or kidnapped anyone so Lifetime Movies is out. Here! would be interested if the two boxers were secret boyfriends but they weren't.

If you're all about the Bronx, love S. Empathy Merkerson from Law and Order, and miss Michael Clarke Duncan then give this film a chance. As of today it can be viewed on Prime for free if you are a member. I personally wouldn't pay to see this but your money is your business. 6 stars from me.

Why would you cast the champion to look like a bigger version of the skinny young boxer? They looked so much alike I didn't know who was who unless they were together and you saw the 2 foot difference in height

I noticed Justin Hartley's name in the credits, so the first 5 minutes of the film I thought I was seeing Hartley on the screen. Then when there was more light in the next scene, I thought this actor "can't be" Justin Hartley, and I wondered why does he look so similar?! The film's protagonist is actually Kent Moran, who's several years younger than Hartley and has a similar hair color, hairline, hair style, eye color, face shape, chin cleft, and body type as Justin Hartley. It was like watching Sylvester Stallone fight Frank Stallone in a Rocky movie. Other than the film's main characters looking so similar, the movie was decent. It depicts a black woman who adopted a white son, and that's something you don't see every day.

Possibly the best part of this movie was the fact that Michael Clarke Duncan starred in it, three years after his death. The movie does showcase what a good man we lost.

Duncan plays a coach who sees potential in a poor kid from the Bronx who tries to fight his way out of his stereotypical life story.

Unfortunately, the timing of this movie stinks. Despite the fact that it was most likely made first, it's released after the far better South Paw, makes me think of it as a low budget South Paw.

What does set it apart from other boxing films is it's commentary on where boxing is today and what can be done to fix it, namely a Cable station wants to exploit the challenger with a reality show that leads up to his fight with the current heavy weight champ as to way to bring back the Heavy Weights that have been long gone since Tyson/Holyfeild.

The challenger has a lot to its story without being too overwhelming. Although the actors were not that convincing for me as even light Heavyweights, they all worked together well to give an emotional heart filled story.

The Best part of the boxing scenes is the advice the coaches would give the athletes in-between rounds. The focus on this, especially with Duncan's character is what the challenger brings to the table.

Not the best boxing movie I've seen but it works for me. R.I.P Michael Clarke Duncan.

Ok, let's face it, there is only so much you can do with a championship boxing movie. To be honest the story is very unlikely. However, this one has something special. The 90 minutes flew past very quickly for me which is my proof that I enjoyed it. The acting was superb, the fight scenes were reasonable and the story, although far from reality drew me in and had me routing for the main character. Although Kent Moran doesn't look like he has ever truly fought in a ring he played the title role really well and was very likeable. Michael Clarke Duncan played the supporting role equally well and was very believable as the trainer. It was refreshing to see a boxing movie without any romantic complications blurring the story. Yes, it was the rise of the underdog as most of them are. And yes, there were plenty of touching family moments but no love interests. Another thing I liked was that the opponents were not painted as the bad guys like in so many other movies. Anyway, I watch a lot of boxing movies and this is definitely worth watching. 7/10