Hands of Stone (2016)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

That's one of the best boxing movies made since several décades, since RAGING BUILL actually. At least for my taste. Performances are awesome and characters depiction too. But there is a scene I don't understand. After Duran shouted after his guests around his swimming pool, you see one of these guests in a street restaurant, grabbing some fodd from a tourist plate, run away and then being hit by a car whilst he escapes... Why this scene? Which link with the story? This character was no more than a simple extra... No one seems to have noticed this strange line in the film.

You have been warned. There will be plenty of pun jabs in this review, but please don't count me out yet. Roberto Duran, the legendary Panamanian boxer, is in the center ring in Writer-Director Jonathan Jakobuwicz' bio pic "Hands of Stone". Jakobuwicz features Duran Duran, and more of Duran; I just did that so I could include one of my favorite bands of all time in this review. Anyways, Edgar Ramirez stars as Duran in a bit over-the-top performance but still had a few uppercuts in his work. The film features Duran as a child living in the Panamanian slums, and then as a young man who loved the boxing game, next his eventual rise into the ring, and lastly his legendary battles with boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard. Jakobuwicz also presents Duran's personal life in his relationship with his girlfriend and then wife Felicidad. But this movie is very much also about Duran's seasoned trainer Ray Arcel, who is played with plenty of punch by the great Robert DeNiro. Arcel had a wealth of experience training champion boxers, but ran into a mob squad that physically & mentally forced him out of boxing. Years later, Arcel discovers Duran, and thought it was time to get back in. There is no doubt that Jakobuwicz does get a bit showy in several of the film's scenes; but you know what, I found them to be in the ropes of "guilty pleasure" watching. DeNiro, who needs no training in the thespian world, was brilliant as Arcel. I also enjoyed the first card supporting work from John Turturro as a mobster, Ruben Blades as Duran's manager, and Usher (yes, that Usher) as Sugar Ray Leonard. Sure, there lots of cheesy stuff in "Hands of Stone" that have a familiar ring to it, and yes I do think many will be sparring partners of mine by disagreeing with me on that it was an entertaining bio flick; but I don't see why you should not go head to head and eye to eye with "Hands of Stone". **** Good

The first time I saw Roberto Duran fight was the Duran v Leonard fight...... Part 2. Where Sugar Ray Leonard was showboating, doing the Ali shuffle and basically humiliating Duran. I turned to my older brother and said that Duran is a bit rubbish only to be met with a reply, he is the world champion and usually a bit of a an animal but Leonard is on another plane tonight.Hands of Stone tells the story of Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez) told through the eyes of veteran trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro.) Ramirez is frankly to old for the teenage Duran, a wild kid brought up in poverty in Panama who becomes maybe the best lightweight ever.Duran took two big money fights with Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher) the golden boy of boxing and Duran won the first fight by taunting Leonard to brawl with him, a mistake Leonard did not make the second time.Still Duran came back after this defeat where he allegedly said 'no mas' and quit the fight. Duran would go on to become world champion in two further weight divisions.A lot of the film is actually in Spanish for the Panama based scenes, it is a competent and entertaining film of a legendary boxer who retired from boxing at the age of 50 in 2002.There is nothing in the film though that elevates it to greatness. If you have De Niro in the cast and it is a boxing film your mind turns to Raging Bull, a landmark boxing film. This is not in that league.

Durans biography is a great story and for the most part is a good movie, but it could of been so much better, one of the greats even...And it all comes down to the directing... The movie is hard to connect with in the first 20 minutes and the voice audio is somewhat drowned out by the background audio, which obviously doesn't help in that regard either... It does slowly start getting better and a lot more engaging... The biggest downfall is the fights unfortunately, which is meant to be the best part of a fight movie, the camera is zoomed in that close you can't really tell whats going on half the time...? Honestly how can anyone think its good to film fight scenes like that is beyond me...