| | | Some Dreams Are Worth The Fight.
Features: DVD, English, Spanish, French, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Small-town boy Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Public Enemies) knows firsthand that every day in New York City is a struggle to survive. So when scam artist Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard, Iron Man, Hustle and Flow) gives him a chance to be something more in the brutal underground world of bare-knuckle street-fighting, Shawn decides that he has something worth fighting for and puts everything on the line to win. Every knockout brings him closer to the life he's always wanted, but also traps him in a dangerous web he can't escape.
"Fighting is a fun, frank and faithful homage to simple inner-city drama." Jordan Burchette, Premiere
"...New York movies this gritty and flavorful don't come along very often." Scott Tobias, The Onion A.V. Club
"Fighting has real grit and excellent acting." Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Editor's Note
In director Dito Montiel?s 2009 drama, FIGHTING, Channing Tatum (G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA) portrays Shawn, a young man from the South trying to make a living on the streets of New York City. When Shawn gets into an altercation while selling bootleg CDs and DVDs, a con man (Terrence Howard) who witnesses the brawl takes him under his wing and introduces Shawn to NYC?s underground street-fighting circuit. In these bare-knuckle battles, Shawn has a chance to win significant money--and also the heart of the beautiful Zulay (Zulay Henao).A film that goes beyond its deceptively simple title and premise, FIGHTING is elevated by the keen eye of Montiel, who also co-wrote the script with Robert Munic, and the charismatic presence of Tatum, who previously had a minor role in the writer-director?s cinematic debut, A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS. Although the film goes through the standard up-by-the-bootstraps dramatic cycle, the performances of Tatum, Howard, and Henao make the story surprisingly compelling, and the fight sequences are exceptionally fierce, giving the movie considerable added zest. Though less high-profile than combat classics such as ROCKY and THE KARATE KID, FIGHTING fits well into the category of revered movies of the boxing/martial-arts subgenre.
| Features | Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Deleted Scenes | | Includes Both Original Theatrical & Unrated Extended Versions Of The Film! | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Fighting - DVD Review By: Chris Cabin - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 8/14/2009 4:48 PM | |
There is something abnormally aggressive and conversational being deployed in the street-fight drama Fighting. It's the second film directed and co-written by New York native Dito Montiel and, like his nostalgic debut A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, it has a great love for NYC location shooting. This film tells a very familiar tale of a talented fighter discovered by an opportunistic but ultimately good-hearted manager/trainer and shoved into a world of money, greed, and empty glory that he may not be prepared for. ...read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 1/3/2010 |
| Running Time: 213 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2009 | | Catalog ID: 61110479 | | UPC: 00025192032738 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"Mr. Tatum has what it takes to be a real movie star. Not just an impressive physique and the physicality of a young Marlon Brando, but also a surprising sensitivity, a lightness of manner that makes him credible..." 04/24/2009Los Angeles Times
"[V]ivid....It feels like a guided tour of the city's in-your-face underbelly, loaded with detail that only a native with an artist's eye could reveal." 04/24/2009 Chicago Sun-Times
3 stars out of 4 -- "[The film] creates uncommonly interesting characters....[Listen] to the dialogue by Robert Munic and Montiel, which is far above formula boilerplate and creates the illusion that the characters might actually be saying it in the moment." 04/22/2009 Hollywood Reporter
"Terrence Howard lends the pedigree of great screen acting, and Zulay Henao adds charm and glamour while a fine supporting cast validates the semi-documentary approach." 04/22/2009 A.V. Club
"The black-market fisticuffs in FIGHTING have a real-life messiness that's part of the film's scrappy underdog charm....New York movies this gritty and flavorful don't come along very often." -- Grade: B 04/23/2009 San Francisco Chronicle 7 of 10
It looks as if preproduction for "Fighting" involved locking all of the actors in a room and making them watch "Rocky" on a constant loop. Most of the main characters in this movie have good hearts, make their living by questionable means and talk as if they've been punched in the head one too many times...Harvey's Dickensian crew of possibly underage underlings provides comic relief, but they're never obvious. Zulay's skeptical English-challenged grandmother manages to steal every scene she's in, while never seeming like anything except a real person. This film is a drama first, and an action movie a distant second...The ambiguous characters in "Fighting" add to the tension, and there are several clever turns during the fights themselves. Unfortunately, the filmmakers succumb to using quick edits and shaky visuals during the action, as if the director handed the camera to a spider monkey whenever a fight scene started. It seems as if a movie called "Fighting" should show the actual fighting...The ending is a bit predictable, and a few things happen with Zulay that seem out of character. But these small shortcomings only stand out because the rest of the movie is so nuanced and well-crafted. In a genre where too many films are all brawn and no brain, "Fighting" is a contender. - Peter Hartlaub
Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
I like the way the personalities are allowed to upstage the plot in "Fighting," a routine three-act fight story that creates uncommonly interesting characters. Set in the streets of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, involving a naive kid from Alabama and a mild-mannered hustler from Chicago, it takes place in a secret world of street fighting for high cash stakes. Do rich guys really bet hundreds of thousands on a closed-door, bare-knuckle brawl? I dunno, but it's cheaper than filming a prizefight arena...Listen also to the dialogue by Robert Munic and Montiel, which is far above formula boilerplate and creates the illusion that the characters might actually be saying it in the moment. An extended flirtation between Zulay and Shawn isn't hurried through for a bedroom payoff, but grows sweeter and more tender as it continues. This scene illustrates my theory that it is more exciting to wonder if you are about to be kissed than it is to be kissed..."Fighting" is not a cinematic breakthrough. But it is much more involving than I thought it would be. The ads foreground the action, no doubt because that's what sells. The film transcends the worldview that produced the ad campaign and gives audiences a well-crafted, touching experience. Sometimes you can feel it when an audience is a little surprised by how deeply they've become involved. - Roger Ebert
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