Poor Boy's Game

This was an average sort of movie. It didn't leave any lasting impressions despite an interesting premise and gritty storyline. Poor Boy's Game is a movie built around a boxing match, but its most powerful scenes involve the ongoing human drama. I still found this a bit all over the place, the characters underdeveloped and their motivation vague.

The story is ultimately about forgiveness and redemption following Donnie (Rossif Sutherland) who has just been released from prison after serving 10 a ten year sentence for beating a man so badly he suffered permanent mental disability. Upon his release he goes back to his old crew of familiar (Canadian faces) hard drinking racist A--holes for the most part and then through guilt I suppose agrees to enter into a boxing grudge match that he knows will end either in his loss or death.

The plot gets strange then as Danny Glover agrees to help train Donnie even though he is the man responsible for beating his son. This all culminates into some kind of racial war; churches burn, people are killed in revenge killings and then the big showdown takes place in the ring. The boxing isn't great here either, kinda cheesy as is the ending where both boxers have to work together in the ring.

There is a big Canadian cast attached to this, lots of actors I recognized from assorted TV shows and then Danny Glover. Weird. It has also been filmed and takes place in Halifax but had a feel of one of those movies filmed in Canada but meant to take place in America. 12/1/15

I liked this movie. I think it's fairly good, but my main complaint is that it feels like a very "safe" drama, in that normally when the end credits roll in a normal drama, you have a very strong emotion that sticks with you for hours or even days on end. You definitely do not get that from this movie.

I picked this movie up for $2.50 and I was pleasantly surprised at it. The acting was fairly good, the plot was nice, and it carried some strong topics throughout that I think might be easy to relate to if you have background knowledge of the city of Halifax; however, I don't, and maybe that's why this movie didn't feel as powerful to me.

To my point on a "safe" drama, my complaint is this: the tension is there, but its delivered very softly. Most of the film draws on the animosity between the various characters; there's about four main characters, and all of them have strong feelings towards each other. But its strange; you learn the backgrounds and expect strong bonds, but they're not given directly with that strong power. It's like the film is saying "we told you their relations, just take our word for it, we don't have to show it". The other thing is the ending. I'm not going to give anything away, but after sitting through the entire film I felt it was trying to deliver a message, but I simply could not understand what it was. They were trying to deliver the moral without dialogue, but I think it just couldn't be done.

Overall, I'd say check it out. Maybe it's a film where the message you create; who knows? 8/10.

In a racially divided Halifax, former boxer Donnie Rose (Rossif Sutherland) gets paroled after ten years in prison. George (Danny Glover) is the father of his victim who was beaten to brain damage. During the last few years, Donnie had stopped his violence and racial anger. He returns to a hero's welcome and a party with his racist family. Professional boxer Ossie Parris (Flex Alexander) decides to get revenge by challenging him to a boxing match. Despite acrimony from both sides of the racial divide, Donnie and George form an unlikely partnership.

This is a Canadian indie. As a boxing movie, it isn't that much. In the end, this is not really a sports movie. It is more about forgiveness, acceptance, and racial tolerance. Even more interestingly, it delves into the racially divided world of Halifax. There are moments of real power, but the movie is a bit too meandering. Rossif is too passive although I do get the acting choice. The pacing has too many slow spots. As for the ending, I like the starting move, but I didn't like where it goes. There is a lot to like in this.

I haven't had much good to say about films shot in Canada recently, but this is the exception. I hope race relations in Nova Scotia aren't this bad, but the film made me believe each of the characters were real. They all had a depth to them, and as others have mentioned, were all acted very well. It's true that some of this territory has been covered before, but I think it's safe to say nobody saw this particular ending coming quite the way it happened. My last comment is about the boxing scene, which I felt was unique in conveying the impacts of some of the blows. Other recent boxing movies have not had the same effect, for me. I look forward to more films of this calibre.

I was thinking first when i started this movie that it was some crappy low budget flick but it turned out to be one of my favorites it tells the story of how a man with a rough youth can go from a cold hearted scum bag to someone completely reformed and empathetic it is a touching movie and it moves along at a very good pace building up to the climax where the too men step into the ring i would like to see more titles like this and i will definitely be looking to purchase this some time, and the fact that it was filmed in my hometown is kind of cool too it really helps to relate to the movie, all in all i would give this movie a ten out of ten.. it is one of those that you want to see over and over again