 |  |
Review #510 of 365
Movie Review of Resurrecting the Champ (2007) [PG-13] 111 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.75
Where Viewed: United Artists Continental 6, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 22 August 2007
Time: 7:0 pm
DVD Release Date: 8 April 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: Download now from 
- or - order the CD below
Directed by: Rod Lurie (The Last Castle)
Screenplay by: Michael Bortman (Chain Reaction) • Allison Burnett (Autumn in New York) based on article by J. R. Moehringer of the L.A. Times
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Samuel L. Jackson (1408) • Josh Hartnett (The Black Dahlia) • Kathryn Morris ("Coid Case") • Dakota Goyo (Ultra) • Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives") • Alan Alda ("The West Wing") • Rachel Nichols ("Alias") • Nick Sandow (Swimfan) • David Paymer (Ocean's Thirteen) • Harry J. Lennix (Stomp the Yard) • Peter Coyote ("The 4400")
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click here if you would like to read the spoiler points for Resurrecting the Champ.
Erik Kernan (Josh Hartnett) is the off-beat sports reporter for the fictional Denver Times. He and his wife, Joyce (Kathryn Morris), are graduates of Columbia School of Journalism. She's developed into the paper's strongest investigative writer while he's been knocked around by his sports editor, Metz (Alan Alda), who notes he forgets Erik's stories half way through describing them has having a lot of typing and not much writing. He holds out hope, though, for he sees potential for Erik to rise up to the level of his radio announcer father who covered the boxing world creating a sterling reputation for his gift of diction and powerful insight into the sport. Erik, however, lives knowing that his father abandoned him and him mother; and, while he craves the limelight, he intends to be a far better father to his own son, Teddy (Dakota Goyo). One evening, after covering a boxing match rather than the coveted Nuggets or Broncos game, Erik happens upon a group of young men who are slugging it out with an obviously homeless guy they refer to as 'the Champ' (Samuel L. Jackson). The leader of the pack has discovered a way to impress his friends and his intended girlfriend by demonstrating his capability of beating up a former world-ranked boxer. Liquored up, malnourished, and on the high side of the life-expectancy chart for males in the United States, he is hardly a contender.
"…provokes intense levels of self-analysis and promote journeys of deep self-discovery. "
On the home front, Erik and his wife are separated. He doesn't seem to know why, and while we can guess, we never know why either. He desperately adores and loves his son, and uses the word "cleaved" to describe how he feels about being taken out of his life on a daily basis. Back at the newspaper office, his career and writing are not going as he had always dreamed. He's been assigned stories that get buried and his editor seems to have it out for him. In addition, Erik has a habit of projecting the future and truth onto the world he hopes to realize, rather than accepting the reality of his situation. There's something to be said for this, but not when it means your son believes you and John Elway are very close friends. A new world starts to open up for him at a lunch meeting with the Denver Times Sunday News Magazine editor, Whitley (David Paymer) whom he hopes to entice into taking him on as a sports feature writer. When asked why he's not getting better stories and writing better pieces for the paper as a whole, he quotes back Metz's own criticisms of his work with a spin. Whereas Metz states his writing has no personality, he suggests his writing lacks personality because Metz is working him way too hard to afford him the time he needs to hone his work. Whitely is too astute to succumb to airy self-promotion, and asks Erik for some solid story ideas. His first few are as trite as Whitely's ever heard, but his final suggestion, a piece he'd write about a former heavyweight boxing champ now living on the streets of Denver, however, opens Whitley's eyes. He says he'd be very interested in such a story for the cover of the magazine, were there to be no interest from Metz to put the story in the sports section, etc. Erik assured him that the idea was described by Metz, who actually was never pitched the idea, as a "dry well". And, thus begins the remarkably quick rise of Erik Kernan, Jr. as he pokes, prods, and prevails in extracting a potential Pulitzer Prize-winning story from 'the Champ' in order to make good on his promise to write this story for Whitley.
What he cannot know, however, is that the two men will share a lot in common, their appreciation for irony, their fathers both incapable of unconditional love, and their mastery of inventing the truth each one wants there to be in the world even if the world is too stubborn to deliver it. As he meets with 'the Champ' and gets closer and closer to him, they become friends. First, for 'the Champ' it's obviously about the gifts of money and booze; but, as time passes, he too finds a kindred spirit and, perhaps, elements of a son that he has long lost. Erik finds the story that will change his life forever and the voice to put the beautiful piece to press. Whitley, salivating for something really good for the Magazine, calls Erik and asks for the story ASAP; and, Erik, hungry to achieve the glory he feels he rightly deserves, obliges. The presses roll, and truth is written. And for a few days, Erik revels in his newfound fame. Showtime calls wanting him to become their on-camera face for boxing. The world is his oyster, the sky's the limit, and he's never been so pleased. All of this, though, is about to come crashing down. It will turn out that he made some colossal blunders in his story, failed to due his homework properly, and as Joyce will remind him, despite being the boxing beat reporter for one of the nation's largest newspapers, until a few weeks before, he'd never even heard of 'Battling Bob' Satterfield. His article will become rubbish and case study fodder for journalism school students learning what not to do. His son will endure the backlash from schoolmates whose parents and guardians will explain to their children the lack of character present in this man. Even his wife will be implicated in assisting him in this fraud. In short, his stay at the top won't even be 15 minutes.
Resurrecting the Champ is a powerfully effecting drama at heart. The story, without grandiose pretense, puts forth the kind of ethical dilemmas that ordinary people face in their lives today. More and more, there is pressure on the youth to accept shortcuts toward their goals to achieve the instant gratification of prominence, influence, wealth, and power that realistically takes a lifetime to acquire because they see and believe everything should and will just be handed to them on a silver platter no strings attached. Some might suggest the slow-cooked pace of the film and sometimes tentative unfolding impedes its potential to be a knock-out. And, yet, this is not The Bourne Ultimatum. This is not a high tech thriller. This is a down-home drama where jewels are put on display for one to take a long, hard look at before seeing one's own reflection. To rush this would be to miss the point altogether, though it's easy to see why the vast majority of people will elect to miss out. It requires sometimes painful introspection. Many use movies today to escape and prefer not to be reminded or forced to evaluate their own lives or life choices. Rushing this film would have been to lose such gems as a perfectly lovely scene where Erik takes 'the Champ' to a video store to see a few minutes of footage he's managed to buy from a private collector of 'the Champ' fighting in the early days of his career. After they leave the store, 'the Champ' hurries off as if he's overwhelmed by the footage. Erik catches up to him and wonders what's wrong. Didn't 'the Champ' enjoy this trip down memory lane? 'the Champ' replies, "Well, I hope one day, God willing, your son does for you what you just did for me." In that one simple line, he captures all that is right and wrong in the world.
|
Poor Josh Hartnett has been described as being too "bland" as an actor and an actual detractor in this film versus the incredibly moving portrayal of 'the Champ' by Mr. Jackson. Here again, irony has its way with us, for generally it takes a foil character to help draw out the performance of a brilliant portrayal. Was Tom Cruise "bland" in his performance as the prosecuting attorney vs. Jack Nicholson's General in A Few Good Men? Of course he was. Who wouldn't seem bland in contrast to a legend delivering some of his best lines in one of his most exhilarating dialogue-dependent scenes ever? In this case, however, Erik Kernan, Jr. is a far more well-developed character in this story than was Tom Cruise's character. Ultimately, Josh Hartnett's performance is neither bland nor is he as an actor. In fact, he brings an understated depth to his roles that certainly are to be missed by those who rush to punch out their opinions without really taking the time to watch him understand his characters and make them real. Josh Hartnett is not a father in real life. Yet, there's never any doubt of his love for his son. The one criticism that might be valid is that it's difficult to comprehend the chemistry between he and his wife at times, and that it's never clear why she wants a separation is a fault of the script, not the actors.
"Samuel L. Jackson delivers one of the best performances of his venerable career."
Finally, director Rod Lurie has 'enjoyed' a storied career in film himself after achieving the bulk of his early notoriety as a film critic. Being a critic is a difficult job, especially when one has to point out the obvious flaws in something as one sees them. Of course, the job is entirely based on opinion, hopefully rooted in some level of expertise but not necessarily so. Therefore, there are going to be critics of critics. Fans hurt. Egos bruised. There can be a tendency to put on a holier than thou façade or smugness as if to imply that "I would have gotten that better had I been in charge" concept. So, for a critic to become a filmmaker and have to endure the backlash of his own words must be quite a step. As if to imply that he should be able to make perfect films having spent so much of his career finding fault with other people's work. As Erik Kernan writes in the film, "A writer like a boxer stands alone." Add the critic to that list. When one puts up a critique of a film, good or bad, the power of the words to persuade others to take their time and spend their money to see the film or avoid it altogether are substantial. It behooves critics, therefore, to take the time to build the trust with their audiences and to write from their honest perspective evaluating the film itself in question and not the baggage of the past. Resurrecting the Champ joins only a few dramas truly worth seeing so far this year and stands along with Talk to Me and Reign Over Me as the only which provoke intense levels of self-analysis and promote journeys of deep self-discovery.
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Resurrecting the Champ (2007)
Cast Members
Samuel L. Jackson
• Josh Hartnett • Kathryn MorrisDakota Goyo
• Teri Hatcher • Alan AldaRachel Nichols
• Nick Sandow • David PaymerHarry J. Lennix
Director
Rod Lurie
Writers
Michael Bortman
• Allison Burnett| DVD | VHS |
No comments:
Post a Comment