Fighting Comes Home Black and Blu-Ray

Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard Hit the Streets in Underdog Story

Oct 12, 2009

Within its opening seconds, Fighting valiently attempts to set up its out of work-ing class hero, Sean (Channing Tatum), as a housing challenged Rocky.

The triumphant music introduces our flawed good samaritan of a star standing in a packed, noisy subway car. He gets off, carrying his bootleg books and novelties to sell as a street merchant in downtown New York, along the way helping an old lady, and holding the door for a deluge of subway passersby. Moral code established.

Upon reaching his chosen sales post on the crowded sidewalk, he drops down his blanket full of worthless goods and does his best to hustle them. It is here that, after Sean beats away some street thugs who are out to steal what little money he's acquired, Harry (Terrence Howard), a low level street hustler with some high level connections, sees his potential to be a force to be reckoned with. Recognizing the dire straits Sean is living in, Harry makes him an offer to earn some money in no-holds barred street fights (that are of course hosted by the rich and powerful New York elite. Oh the corruption!).

Action Un-Packed!

Simple premise, simple movie. The strangest thing about the film is that for a movie that seems primed to be, and was definitely marketed to be, full of blistering bare knuckle beat downs, it's surprisingly thrifty on action packed screen time. There are four fights in the movie, none lasting more than a couple minutes. The film is actually more of a drama about poverty and what people with limited means will do to survive and escape the lives they know. It's called Fighting after all, one would expect it to live up to it's title's promise, but this is rarely the case. Then again, who would have gone to see a film entitled "Things People Plan On and Talk About Before, After, and Leading Up To One of Them Eventually Fighting." Probably wouldn't have been much of a draw.

The plot meanders and seems unsure of it's final destination, but the actors all hold their own and bring a semblance of reality to the unlikely affair. If one goes in to it looking for a drama, it may hold it's own. If one goes in looking for some hard hitting action, be prepared to skip some chapters and have a spare hour or so more on your hands than you originally planned on.

Beat Down Blu-Ray Bonuses

Fighting's Blu-Ray doesn't bring much to the table in the extras department. There is the original theatrical PG-13 cut and a slightly longer, if barely discernable, unrated version. There are under ten minutes of deleted and alternate scenes and a digital copy of the film as a separate disc, but otherwise, it's pretty threadbare.

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