The Challenger

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.

Jaden Miller (Kent Moran) is a mechanic who lives in the Bronxs with his mother Jada (S. Epatha Merkerson). Both Jaden and his mother have little money and are faced with the threat of eviction, but Jaden sees an opportunity to rid his family of their financial woes and decides to take up boxing. Jaden strikes up a friendship with Duane (Michael Clarke Duncan) a boxing coach who refuses to train 'rookies'. Duane is initially cynical of Jaden, but when he witnesses Jaden's dedication and determination he continues coaching him all the way up to the top where Jaden eventually faces off against the world champion.

With The Challenger what you're basically seeing is another reworking of Rocky with Jaden going through the same basic motions; a rookie boxer working his way to the top and defying the odds by getting that elusive title shot. Anyone who has seen the Rocky films (or practically any boxing film) will have seen this all before and the picture really does offer no real surprises. Despite this though, I have to admit that I still found the film watchable and despite the predictable plot turns I still found the story to be fairly engaging. Moran's writing & directing is pretty good and the film is fairly balanced and well-paced.

One problem I did have with this film is that it is lacking in intensity; I quite liked this film, but it didn't stir up the same emotion in me as Rocky did or many other boxing themed films. I just didn't feel much passion for Jaden and his cause and for that reason I just couldn't get behind him and his cause as much as I should have done. In fact, when the film ended it's a film that I respected and admired, but could never really grow to love.

As Jaden's mother, Jada behaves in typical 'motherly fashion'. She's mortified about Jaden's new career choice and does her best to talk him out of it, but then when he's at the top she couldn't be more proud. This is nice to see (even if her sudden acceptance of him being a boxer seems a bit contrived). This is all OK, but Moran overdoes things in this respect by giving Duane and Jaden's mother a past - which is just manipulative and unnecessary and also the flashbacks when Jaden hits the canvas in his title match are examples of Moran trying too hard to force emotion onto his audience.

I've been quite harsh on this film, but in all honesty it really isn't that bad. The pacing is good and Moran's story is serviceable - the only part that I thought was a bit silly was when the crew were following Jaden around 'documentary style'. I can only assume that Moran introduced this into the story to inject some originality - it also seemed terribly convenient how quickly this aspect of the story was dropped as well. Moran's directing and writing are OK, but his acting wasn't great and he really should have given more of a heart to the picture. The Challenger is notable for being Michael Clarke Duncan's last film and in typical fashion the big man doesn't disgrace himself and puts in another solid performance.

RIP Michael Clarke Duncan.

absolutely nothing original about this movie. its a knock off of rocky, or like a bunch of other boxing movies, but very poorly made. The build up is rushed, the boxing training is short, he goes from boxing in a local club to fighting for a title after 7 fights, lol, its almost embarrassing to watch. anyone who has watched real boxing, will find this ridiculous. The main character, the boxer, is sort of lame, he show no real hunger to either train or fight. it feels weird. the main fight of the movie, is poorly made, you don't see, not even half a round; you only get some silly glimpse of the rounds

And both take damage way beyond what they would ever be able to handle in reality, which makes it look even more ridiculous.

I urge you not to waste your time or money.

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 decided to watch the Challenger right after seeing a great documentary about boxing. I was inspired by the struggle and the inner strength of men who only had their fists to get them out of poverty.

On the other hand, the challenger... is the most uninspirational movie you can ever watch about the beautiful science. It's lame, predictable, and absolute rubbish. The hero looks like a midget but fights for the heavyweight title held by a guy who looks more like a toothpaste ad. Everything starts when the "hero" decides one day to start boxing, having shown no interest before. He trains for what looks like 3 weeks and starts knocking out everyone. Somehow, he gets a title shot out of nowhere....and before you know it, I am asleep and do not care about how it ends. I can guess it. From miles away.

In fact miles away is how far you should stay from this movie. It stinks!