The Challenger

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!

With the reluctant acquiescence of his adoptive mother -- S. Epatha Merkerson -- and the compassionate tutelage of his trainer -- Michael Clarke Duncan -- writer-director Kent Moran rises from obscure Bronx mechanic to a title fight.

It's an old and accepted story, probably going back to when Pierce Egan when he was writing his first book on the sweet science in 1813. So why do another? Well, there's always a market for a boxing movie, and here we have a few new things to say: a reality show based on Moran to push him up the rankings; the relationships, some of which are a bit corny; the final fight, which is brutal; and the editing by Anthony Muzzati and director Kent Moran, which is excellent. The acting is pretty good. And if the visuals clearly are, ahem, inspired by Rocky, well, they worked before and they work here.

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.

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.