A Fighting Man (2014)

Absolutely Fantastic

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Now let me explain my header to this review. I already think that "A Fighting Man" was really something. In fact, I thought it was really good. Considering I went into expecting a schlocky and silly attempt at making some sort of "Rocky" knock-off. I watched it because I still really like Dominic Purcell from his Prison Break days and the short lived but amazing John Doe TV Series. Unfortunately Purcell has descended into straight to video, horribly campy sort of stuff so I had pretty low expectations. Certainly, there were aspects of A Fighting Man that showed its independent roots but overall the film is very well made, inspiring, interesting, well written and unique in its own way in the boxing drama genre. A Fighting Man is very unique in fact and in the beginning of the film I wasn't sure I liked how it was laid out. Instead it won me over and made it all the more appealing. Instead of building to a big fight at the end, the entire film is the "big fight" and it flashes back to what brought these two men together. Neither is a villain, they both have very different backgrounds and different reasons for stepping into the ring. The rivalry is there and as expected it turns into a deep admiration for each other. Perhaps slightly predictable but no less inspiring and wonderful to watch.There are some less than stellar performances in the film and there are some very good performances in the film. Dominic Purcell headlines the cast as an ageing Irish boxer who really never hit his peak but has the distinguished record of having never been knocked down in the ring. This is sort of a gimmicky part of his character but it ends up driving the inevitable climax that very nearly brought me to tears. Purcell starts out with some so-so charisma on screen but then he finds his footing and you start to really relate to his character. Yes, in some ways he's doing his best Rocky clone but there is enough different about his character. Certainly he struggles with everyone's opinion that he's washed up and over the hill. It was a great character for him. Izaak Smith was very good right from the beginning as a young hot shot boxer who descended into drugs and found himself disgraced. Smith was really terrific. He gives a very powerful performance and the chemistry between him and Purcell is decent and ends up being excellent in the closing scenes. One of the best things about this film and the smartest thing they could have done was to enlist veteran actors James Caan and Louis Gossett Jr. as the respective trainers. Their roles are unfortunately small but very effective and their charisma is undeniable. I desperately wanted to see more from both of them and their relationship to their individual boxer. Still the scenes between Caan and Purcell were particularly good. Most of the supporting cast is okay at best. I'm not sure why they even cast Famke Janssen as her character and story were a bit much and felt like overkill though they were aiming for a story of redemption and emotion. Adam Beach was flat out awful. He literally dragged down the cast as a campy and obnoxious fight promoter. The character might have been decent but Beach was terrible. Kim Coates who is excellent in Sons of Anarchy also felt very out of place and campy as a Priest trying to reach out to Purcell's dying mother. He was an unnecessary character too. Sheila McCarthy was very good in a small role as Purcell's mother. She was probably the best in the supporting cast.Any lover of Boxing films I think will truly appreciate this. It actually was a much better crafted story than "Grudge Match" and while it certainly wasn't as brilliant as "Rocky" it was a very solid effort. The fight choreography was near perfect. There was nothing cheap or underplayed when it came to the fight itself. Damian Lee writes and directs the film but he's not an amateur. He's been making films for a very long time and despite some of them being straight to video I think this guy has talent and artistic vision. He hit all the right notes in my books. Granted, I had low expectations but I am never opposed to being surprised and this truly entertained and is one I would absolutely watch again. With a stronger cast, more financial backing and a more critically respected director, this could have been a huge success with critics. But for a small independent, straight to video release, this absolutely hits a home run in my book. Give it a chance and sit back and enjoy it. It will make you cheer and maybe even cry a little. 8.5/10

i just saw actor dominic purcell in the movie "a fighting man"! give an academy award to him, the other actors, the producer, the director, the man who wrote the script! i saw all of the "rocky" movies. every one. this is more true to life.a child sees his father brutally hit his mother. then, the father knocks him against the window of the car, and cracks it. the child vows to his mother to never get knocked down right then and there! and, "sailor", played by dominic purcell, is not knocked down, even in his last, his sixty-fourth, fight. his mother raises him herself. the father has run off, abandoning the both of them. my father did the same thing.i see myself in "sailor". this is a prizefighters movie. this is not some "pink and white idiot's" movie about what it must be to be a prizefighter. this is a movie in which the entire cast spills their guts out! purcell was born in england, but, raised in Australia. Australia is a man's world. how many innocent men and women were sent to "new south wales" as convicts years ago? the raw seething beneath the skin for past injustices done to his people comes to life in dominic purcell. bravo! to everyone involved! a masterpiece!

The movie is all about human life and their stories. I wasn't really expecting what I watched but I really liked it.Unlike an usual movie, it starts with the action. So, you are not really sure what the characters are... I mean, you don't really like or dislike anyone yet even though the stories is already happening. So they keep crossing characters life over and over again in a pretty interesting way.What I really like about fighters movies is that we are all fighters in our life... we fight for our friends, our family, ourself. We need to overcome our challenges, be ready to "take a punch" from life and don't never give up. In the end, life is more about how much you can take and keep going than how hard you can punch. It is just and simple human stories... human life.I understand why not everyone will love this movie, but I had a really good time watching it!

"The best we can do is to forgive ourselves." Sailor O'Connor (Purcell) is an aging fighter with a past that won't let him go. He is trying to move on when he is approached by a local promoter for one last fight. After agreeing for the biggest payday he's ever had he tells his mother and old trainer, neither of whom is happy about it. His opponent is an up and coming young kid with a past he is also trying to change. Together they fight not only each other but the past they can't forget. As many of you know I am a huge fan of sports movies. Being a lower budget one that not many people have heard of I wasn't expecting too much from this. I'm not sure if that had any effect on my feelings toward this but I really really enjoyed it. Every other boxing movie I have seen tells the story of the characters then ends with the fight. This one switches between the fighting and the story which I really enjoyed. You see some punches then part of the fighters life which segues beautifully into the break in between rounds. That gives extra meaning to the rest period. I could go on and on about this but I'll end by saying I highly recommend this. Overall, not sure if it was because I wasn't expecting something this good but I really enjoyed this. I actually liked it more then The Fighter. I give this an A-.