The Challenger

Ok, let's face it, there is only so much you can do with a championship boxing movie. To be honest the story is very unlikely. However, this one has something special. The 90 minutes flew past very quickly for me which is my proof that I enjoyed it. The acting was superb, the fight scenes were reasonable and the story, although far from reality drew me in and had me routing for the main character. Although Kent Moran doesn't look like he has ever truly fought in a ring he played the title role really well and was very likeable. Michael Clarke Duncan played the supporting role equally well and was very believable as the trainer. It was refreshing to see a boxing movie without any romantic complications blurring the story. Yes, it was the rise of the underdog as most of them are. And yes, there were plenty of touching family moments but no love interests. Another thing I liked was that the opponents were not painted as the bad guys like in so many other movies. Anyway, I watch a lot of boxing movies and this is definitely worth watching. 7/10

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!

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.

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.

When Stallone did Rocky I, you would think from the hype at the time that he invented the boxing film.

No he did not. He re-invented it. Boxing films have been around forever and the first rule of a good boxing film is to connect with the audience by allowing them to "grow" with the protagonist, to improve from fight to fight.

And that was the first rule the producers broke.

Given the minimal amount of screen time alloted to the "early" fights for the protagonist/hero (in some cases just 2 seconds per fight) you may have thought that these were real cable fights where the producers did not have the rights to rebroadcast. But no this is a fiction film and they could have made those fights real. They did not.

Frankly, once you break that key rule, once you have no connection between star and viewer, there is no turning back.

But, almost out of perversity, the producers broke another rule and that amazes me. They cast two actors who look alike for both roles in the ring, hero and villain.

So, and I cannot emphasize the bizarreness of this enough, not only does the audience have no connection with the hero in the final fight, but sometimes you can't tell which actor is playing which role.

And the final rule? Good choreography in the fights. The audience should feel every punch. Here the audience only feels cheated.

A rarity. A boxing film that, like a bad boxer, starts out weak. And then just gets weaker.

Of course, the fact that the film is a "vanity" film -- the same guy is the writer director and star -- may be a factor. But what do I know -- I am just a reviewer.

Terrible film.