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STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

The reliably dreary Walter Hill churns out yet another slow-moving,action lacking yarn.The story is an incoherent,structureless bore concerning the impending showdown between Sweatwater Prison's reigning boxing champ (Wesley Snipes) and the rough,heavy new arrival (Ving Rhames).Performance wise,Rhames is quite impressive as a volatile,easily provoked big-brooding thug who makes Mike Tyson look like a pussycat in comparison,but Snipes is wasted as a more reserved,Lennox Lewis-alike who practises oragami in his spare time.And sadly,for an actor who can usually be relied upon to deliver the dramatic goods,for some reason here he seems really disinterested in his role,not bothering to flex any emotion or sense of involvement whatsoever.

In fact,the whole thing seems to have been weirdly inspired by the year's big Lewis/Tyson showdown event.Oh well,the real thing always is more exciting isn't it?**

When heavyweight champion of the world James "Iceman" Chambers is found guilty of rape of a showgirl he is sent to a new prison in the Californian desert where they send all the more unsavoury prisoners to avoid contaminating those "only" convinced of lesser crimes. However there already is an internal boxing contest within the prison and it already has a champ of over 10 years – Monroe Hutchens. Keen to establish who's is bigger, Iceman shows him up in front of the other inmates. To avoid a riot the warden puts Monroe in solitary while Iceman continues to tough it out in prison. As his expensive legal team prepare an appeal and defend all sorts of other actions, elderly mobster Mendy Ripstein starts pulling the strings to put on the only fight anyone wants to see – Monroe v Iceman.

Starting with a solid 15 minutes of style and energy I wondering if the film would be able to keep the pace up but, despite turning it down a little bit, the film does essentially keep moving with energy and style right till the very end. And it is just as well because there isn't really any substance to talk of in this rather noisy affair. The main character is essentially the writer's take on Tyson but the film doesn't really do anything more interesting with it that just hang the suggested similarities out there – Rhames may occasionally try to express something deeper than this but the material isn't there to help him. As it is though, Hill's direction and manner of keeping the screen busy and the camera moving helps inject life into what is really just a cross of clichés from sports movies and prison movies. It had enough to it to engage and entertain me without ever threatening to stick in my mind for much longer than the time it took to watch it.

The cast do a lot to help the impression of substance by providing lots of faces who put in effort. Rhames is a solid lead who does his Tyson impression well without ever lifting the material. Snipes matches him on this level by producing a simple performance but adding an impressive physical presence to the proceedings. The support cast are not all used that well but are essentially an impressive collection of well known faces who do add a sense of quality even if it doesn't deserve it. Falk was a strange but enjoyable find, while Rooker, Seda, Studi, Stevens, Lover and others all fill in around the edges.

Overall this is a fairly vacuous affair that gets by on huff, puff, energy and style and just about does it well enough to provide a distracting film without doing anything great. Two sets of genre clichés are pushed together and delivered with energy by Hill and his impressive cast and, while it isn't anything special it should at least provide brainless filler for 90 minutes.

UNDISPUTED (2002) **1/2 Wesley Snipes, Ving Rhames, Peter Falk, Michael Rooker, Fisher Stevens, Jon Seda, Wes Studi, Denis Arndt, Ed Lover. Hard-hitting yet formulaic boxing-in-prison flick with professional pugilist and heavyweight world champ Rhames facing off with the maximum security's current in-stir (and undefeated) competitor Snipes (both in amazing physical shape and displaying enough testosterone for two flicks). Falk, at his crustiest, is a scene-stealing hoot as the aged Mafioso con that sets up the grudge match and gets the grease to the wheel. Filmmaker Walter Hill (who co-wrote the lean, mean screenplay with frequent collaborator David Giler ) proves to be a formidable genre helmsman but offers the viewer wanting more.

Undisputed (2002)

*** (out of 4)

Heavyweight champion George 'Iceman' Chambers (Ving Rhames) is convicted of a rape he says never happened and is sent to prison in the prime of his life. Inside the prison is a boxing ring where Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) is the champ. It doesn't take long until mob boss Mendy (Peter Falk) talks the men into a battle between the undisputed champs.

For some reason, UNDISPUTED turned out to be yet another box office disappointment for director Walter Hill, which is really too bad because this here is a rather fun movie for what it is. Perhaps what it is is why it didn't catch on with the public but, again, that's too bad because the film is actually a lot of fun as long as you don't take it too serious.

The film really plays out like one of those Warner prison dramas from the 1930s. Not the "A" list ones but a low-budget "B" movie where you got a nice cast, threw them behind bars and then let everything play out. If you're looking for messages or heart-warming drama of character being built then this isn't the movie for you. Everything happens rather quickly and without too much reason but both Rhames and Snipes are so fun that you can overlook any flaws.

Hill does a great job at slowly building up the anticipation to the fight. There are some really fun mini-battles between the two men and all of this really gets you pumped up for the eventual fight. Once the fight happens the entertainment continues as it certainly lives up to everything the director has built up. Not only do Rhames and Snipes do a nice job in their roles but we also get good support from Faulk, Michael Rooker and Wes Studi.

Again, if you're expecting some sort of hard hitting drama then you're going to be disappointed. This is the type of movie where you just turn your brain off, kick back and have a good time with it.

Director Walter Hill's "Undisputed" is a great guy's movie. It's a fight movie set in Sweetwater Prison in the Mohavje Desert, starring tough guys Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames. What distinguishes this guy's movie are a couple things: the expert and lean direction of Hill, the crisp and intelligent script by David Giler and Hill, and one of the best boxing fight scenes ever done in the movies.

Ving Rhames plays former undisputed Heavyweight Champion James "Ice Man" Chambers, convicted of rape and stripped of his title and sentenced to serve his time in Sweetwater. While there he learns that Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) is the "undisputed" champ at Sweetwater, and he has been undefeated champion for ten years. For the Ice Man, there can be only one champion, and that would be himself. It is predictable that the two will fight at the end, and this is arranged by mobster inmate Mendy Ripstein (a very good Peter Falk). What is not predicable is that Giler and Hill make both Ice Man and Monroe admirable and fascinating characters. You have to credit Rhames and Snipes. Rhames takes what could have been a Mike Tyson caricature, and transformed him into a complex and empathic character. His Ice Man is vicious, crude, arrogant, but also both smart and articulate. Credit Rhames on several occasions for scaring us with the ruthlessness of his Ice Man, and for also surprising us with his understanding of his stature in life as a Heavyweight champion. Ice Man is definitely the more showy character. Snipes underplays it right as Monroe, a great foil to the Ice Man. Snipes's Monroe is not afraid. Monroe knows that "Any fighter can be beat on a given day...", and the game is how long you stay on top and be the best. Monroe is matter of fact, and always in control-- the last time he wasn't got him in prison. Ice and Monroe are both convicts that operate by a code of honor, and that makes all the difference in the movie. It's all about standing your ground, and whoever wins, wins. "Undisputed" also is an homage to boxing and it's history, because ultimately it is about two men seeing who is better on that particular day. There is something pure and whole about that, which is both appreciated and respected.

The final boxing match is awesome. Snipes is an accomplished martial artist and he trained with Emmanuel Stewart. Snipes looks amazing as a boxer-- body movement and combinations. Rhames also looks very impressive and fearsome. It's a 15 minute fight in a 90 minute movie. Walter Hill is the Man.

"Undisputed" is a no nonsense boxing movie that entertains and makes us think. And that is not bad for a very unpretentious movie.