Bruised

The most amazing thing about Bruised is the physical fitness of Halle Berry. And it is even more amazing when you realize that she's playing a person almost half her age.

The flip side is that the movie focuses on blood, sweat and tears the main protagonist is investing to fulfill her dream. This would be fine if Bruised was imagined as a female MMA version of Rocky. But it wasn't.

In fact, the gallery of picturesque side characters remains largely unexplored. And what is merely hinted at seemed to be interesting enough to considerable enrich the movie.

In terms of IMDb stars, Bruised is in the upper half of the range.

Halle Berry taking 2nd billing has nothing to do with the color of her skin or white women getting top billing. It has to do with financing. No matter what the race or gender of a movie star is, some will take 2nd billing to reduce the budget of a movie so the movie can get made for less money so it makes a profit. Sometimes a movie star will take no salary to get financing secured for a movie so it gets made. 🙂

Halle delivers with her directorial debut! She put a lot of hard work in this film, and it's worth a watch. "We" have to go high when "they" go low! It's as if the haters can't wait to post their negative comments! This movie is certainly not a 1/10, but they never get tired of themselves.

The real fight is among the pros. The Hollywood pros. While indies come and go, Oscar-Winner and A-Lister Berry made the unforgivable error of not only directing, but also casting herself, and even choosing a non-traditional topic. For a woman, that is. Which is why most of the trade reviews talk more about her choices than the film itself. Which is a shame because the film is competent, professional, holds the attention, and has first-rate acting. Last time I looked, that is what films were supposed to be about? ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Overall I enjoyed this movie. The sex scenes were unnecessary and at some points it was pretty slow. I can see Halle berry trained a lot for this and she has my respect. Also getting Valentina schevchenko was cool.