"Didn't do anything wrong..?"
Crimes in the ring that the"Dirty Fighter" would've been pulled up on were:
Punching after the bell....
Punching the opponent while down....
Using elbows.....
And Holding while hitting.
Went with my GF and some friends from work last night and what a bloody marvellous film....
From the point of view of a boxing fan/officianado, the technical stuff was spot on, the story-superb, brilliant heartwarming and wrenching performances really great directing.....And the combination of Eastwood and Freeman proves magic once again... Go see it....(But don't read spoilers..!) 😉
Excellent 9/10.
This movie was like Rocky Meets Old Yeller. I was surprised Clint didnt Shoot her at the End. Predictable Mellodramatic BS. ANd its not a Boxing Movie. Boxing and the character being a girl are the only things that keep this from being a complete rip off of Who´s Life is it Anyway w/Richard Dreyfuss. He was a sculptor who was in a car accident and wanted to die. Better movie with no utterly unbelieveable plot points/twists or completely open ended story tangents.
I cant understand why everyone thinks this movie is so great. Its really nothing more than the stardard shlock that the sheeple eat up and gets obligatory oscar nominations.
Originally posted by Mike74
This movie was like Rocky Meets Old Yeller. I was surprised Clint didnt Shoot her at the End. Predictable Mellodramatic BS. ANd its not a Boxing Movie. Boxing and the character being a girl are the only things that keep this from being a complete rip off of Who´s Life is it Anyway w/Richard Dreyfuss. He was a sculptor who was in a car accident and wanted to die. Better movie with no utterly unbelieveable plot points/twists or completely open ended story tangents.I cant understand why everyone thinks this movie is so great. Its really nothing more than the stardard shlock that the sheeple eat up and gets obligatory oscar nominations.
Great post! That's why Oscar is losing credibility.
Originally posted by Mike74
This movie was like Rocky Meets Old Yeller. I was surprised Clint didnt Shoot her at the End. Predictable Mellodramatic BS. ANd its not a Boxing Movie. Boxing and the character being a girl are the only things that keep this from being a complete rip off of Who´s Life is it Anyway w/Richard Dreyfuss. He was a sculptor who was in a car accident and wanted to die. Better movie with no utterly unbelieveable plot points/twists or completely open ended story tangents.I cant understand why everyone thinks this movie is so great. Its really nothing more than the stardard shlock that the sheeple eat up and gets obligatory oscar nominations.
An interesting opinion, and I'll have to check out the movies you recommended there, but rest assured that at least the first half of the movie WAS very accurate to the tech and practical sides of Boxing...
Where as Rocky (Which you compared MDB to) perhaps ironically is the most unrealistic portayal of a Boxing match or fight that i've seen.. They were great movies though from pure entertainment.
Having never been "Sheeple" (Love that word by the way) I can't offer insight into what goes through their minds but I can see what you mean about some other oscar contenders but this film IS a good "Boxing Movie" and as for "Predictable" the sudden change in direction of the movie 3/4 of the way through certainly wasn't a predictable angle to be hit from IMHO, the from the way that the first 3/4 shaped up..... 🙂
I used the Rocky analogy because this films Boxing part were ridiculous in two ways.
First the way she walks through every opponent in 15 seconds is very Rockyesque. She might have well have been Black with a MoHawk with tons of gold chains. Mike Tyson would have been envious of some of those knock outs.
But it was the Woman´s Champion who was really the biggest Joke of all. Even Rocky Movies didn't have a villain that ludicrous. She was straight out of bloodsport. I guess Bolo Yeung wasn´t available. The whole concept of her being a cheapshot artist would have been fine if it was one of the beginning club fights. But the fact that this woman got away with this behavior as a major boxing commissions champion was absolutely laughable. If she had committed acts like this in any title fight as was portrayed she would have been the subject of complete and utter scrutiny from the press and what ever state she fought in´s athletic commission. And if Swanks character was the main draw to the fight as clints character said the WBA, the Athletic commission and the press would have raised such a uproar that most likely a heavyhanded and observant referee would have been assigned. Such a ref would have been in between the fighter at every break and would have never given the champ a shot at retaliation when swank beat her to the point where the official had to intervene. And even between round refs will step between the fighters and insure they go to their respective corners.
Even a Professional Wrestling Referee is more convincing than what the script in this movie portrayed. I was really disappointed especially because of the way clint character interacted with his first fighter and the fact that he was a cutman, i misslead myself into thinking this could have been a gritty boxing movie shades of raging bull.
And on the subject of not seeing the "surprise" twist comming, who could you miss Freeman´s voice over descriibing the Woman´s Champ?
Or the fact that her family was basicly a pack of incureable scumbags? Maybe the cheesy story about Axel her dog was a tip off? Or how bout the way they repeated protect yourself at all times about 70 times?
It was crystal clear that someing tragic was going to happen in the title fight. And if Clint´s Character was supposedly a good enough trainer to turn a 31 year old journeyman woman Boxer into a female Ivan Drago how is it that he couldnt get her to keep her eyes on an opponet that was foreshadowed as slightly less dangerous than Darth Vader? Realistic indeed.
Realistic...? Never said that just referred to the training aspects of the
1st half or so as being technically accurate... As for the turning of the plot taking me by surprise,
I figured the telegraphing of the 'dog story'etc... (Especially paired with as you rightly note- The`protect yourself' and the 'Dirty fighter's build up'😉 would be something like Swank rises through the ranks and then gets some form of massively unjust treatment at the gloved hands of the champion letting in big shots not protecting herself and just fails at her dream and and is beaten throroughly, Clint pulls her out like he wanted to in Morgan Freeman's 60's fight and they fall out or something y'know...? Just didn't expect the way it turned out to be as severe as that..... Still. My mistake. 🙂
Yeah I agree about the ref thing, should've gotten Eddie Cotton in huh...?
Besides i've seen enough dirty fighters get away with more in title fights with rabbit punches,kidneys,elbows...etc (And thats without mentioning Mr.Tyson...!!) unfortunate bad/puzzling reffing does happen.
And yeah. If the commision hadn't jumped all over the champ's ass before the fight, they certainly would have after it.
The Knockouts... A good sense of timing/good technique and the natural explosiveness that some fighters can bring to the table against perhaps a weak division or something and sure....Why not....Look at Naseem Hamed...!!! (And What happened once he met Barrera,a real fighter who wasn't over the hill or not-at-the-hill-yet.. 😉 )
About "if clint's character was supposed to be a good enough trainer to turn a 31-yr old journeyman woman boxer into a female Ivan Drago then how come he couldn't get her to keep her eyes..."etc
Well...Her inexperience 'cause of starting late and fighting a champ who had been fighting for years let her down there I reckon...
And NO trainer out there make you infailible.
Plus you remember MF going on that monologue about her cheeky/obstinate side:"No fighter who would have their inner stubborn streak/determination to have it their way on some level wiped out easily would be a winner"? (Or something) Well Clint could've been fighting a battle on two fronts there... Man your totally right in your assessment of her family though..! What clear and total assholes.....
I tend to agree with you on most of your points but Naseem Hammed?
Come on That guy was so Boxing Meets MTV.
And yes Boxers get away with all kinds of dirty infighhting and whatnot but the Blatant stuff this chick was pulling was really WWF. And like I said before If Swanks character was the mmain draw of the fight and rapidly gaining notariaty and popularity its would have been in the WBA´s best intrest both monetarily and from a publisity stand point to almost have the offical going agisnt the champion. Watch the Johnny Ruiz Roy Jones Jr. Fight and you will see EXACTY what I mean.
In all honesty id reather have sat for 2 hours and watched what was going on in the pic from your signature than this movie.
Its nice to see that someone with authority in pro sports can agree with me that this movie has more holes in it than a whiffle ball.
Go to ESPN.com and look up Skip Bayless' latest article:
Lets KO "Million Problem Baby" lol
Oh and During the Ruiz fight the Ref was very very quick to seperate Ruiz and jones. never letting Ruiz get any inside work done and just giving Jones the opportunity to run and jab the whole fight.
Ahhhhh.... That makes me sick....
Yeah by that description I'd definitley have to say then that that was rankly biased to Jones then...
Shame. Just goes to show then that bent reffing does transpire in favour of both the "Murderer" and the "I-don't-wanna-take-any-chances-fighter".
Sure but on the Tech side of the training and ethos side, their was some accuracy.
Cheers for the tip Mike, I'll be sure to check that out...!
Nice one mate.....
Yep. Nose thing. Clint must've been the cuts man version of Jesus and I accepted that at the time for the movies sake (Suspension of disbelief.
'Rocky's' series had WAY worse inaccuraces... So sod it. The popcorn won out for me there...
But the biggest problem in that guys review that I really WOULD concede 2 whole points out of my out of ten score for it would have to be bad script, no screw that...! Continuity and character development..!
The bit im now reminded of (of Swank supposedly having won that undercard fight BEFORE training at the level we see her train on from then on.....) WAS bullshit.
Y'know when I saw it chat was still occurring with MY GF and my buds,
and following that part as best I could (Admittedly skipping half the dialogue, I assumed we were seeing a "Forward flash part of the movie or something.... But having now had that confirmed as the chronology of that.... Then I can't buy that. THATS the part that loses the 2 points from me in it's self. More than any other discussed point we've been through here....!!!
While not clearly being the greastest boxing movie ever,....
This was still more accurate than Rocky and The Gladiator (Not the Russell Crowe one)combined though despite that.... Not counting the tech accuracy of Rocky 3 regarding training/movement though.... 😛