________________________________________________________
spoiler alert spoiler alert spoiler alert spoiler alert
________________________________________________________
spoiler alert spoiler alert spoiler alert spoiler alert
________________________________________________________
 |  |
Spoiler Points for Resurrecting the Champ (2007) [PG-13] 111 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.75
DVD Release Date: 8 April 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Click here if you do not wish to read spoiler points for this film.
Starting right off, the big twist is that 'the Champ' is not the champ at all. He is not Battling Bob Satterfield rather he is Tommy Kincaid, a fairly good boxer, but not a guy who ever made it to the big show.
He fools Erik with the scar which matches his in the video. Unfortunately, Erik does not verify who is who in the tape, and it turns out, 'the champ' is the other guy, Tommy Kincaid.
When Erik finds out that 'the champ' is not the champ after all, he demonstrates some poor judgment in not immediately letting his supervisors at the Denver Times know. Instead, he jets off to Las Vegas to appear on Showtime® as a boxing announcer. He has to do this because he does not want to let his son down. Afterwards, he does not immediately accept the job with Showtime® nor the advances of the network executive to visit her room for a drink because his conscience weighs too heavily on him and he suspects his world is going to come crashing down.
When the news comes out to the public that the story is a fraud and that Bob Satterfield is, in fact, deceased; Erik tracks down 'the Champ' and gets into a brawl with him. 'the Champ' however, still has a few good punches left in him, and he knocks Erik out. Erik ends up in the hospital where his wife explains that he still has an opportunity to forgive the old man.
The editors and publishers of the paper learn of the mishap when they are served with a multi-million dollar lawsuit by Bob's real son—the dude that hangs up on Erik that could have and would have solved this entire problem and the charade being played by Kincaid.
After finally agreeing to forgive 'the Champ', Erik meets up with him as he gets out of jail. The two drive to Betty's house and fall asleep in the car. Erik wakes to see him sitting on the front bumper in the cool morning air. When Erik joins him, he gets up and explains how he became Bob Satterfield. It turns out that an unscrupulous boxing promoter asked him to assume the name and to box as Satterfield in the west where people wouldn't know the difference. What neither expected, probably, though was that the new and improved Tommy Kincaid would actually be quite good, a winner, a champ. He'd played the role so long that when he retired and moved down to Denver, he kept the name, married, and had a son. Unfortunately, his son found an old Ring Magazine that proved he was not Satterfield, disowned him, ran off and got himself killed in a gang. Erik shares that his dad, too, ran off when he was only 9 years old, and he never forgabe him.
After attending Career Day at Teddy's school, Erik realizes how terribly he's let his son down. Not just over 'the Champ' story but everything he's every told him that was a stretch of the truth from how close he was to John Elway to the number of times he'd golfed with Muhammad Ali.
At the settlement conference, Erik makes a plea to Bob's son that he'd like to make this right doing the one thing he knows how to do, write the truth. Only this time, he'd have the full truth. The son agrees that his father was not all that great a boxer, and he'd really rather have a story that tells what a great human being and father he was. Erik seizes this opportunity to explain what happened and to tell the full truth. The truth of the matter was that 'the Champ' told him the story he wanted to hear, and that's why he looked no further. The son agrees to the plan, much to the chagrin of his attorney.
Next up, we see that dreaded blinking cursor on the screen. The one every modern writer faces today upon sitting down to the word processor. That blank screen and blinking cursor serves both as a reminder that we've written nothing and, yet a beacon of hope that we will get a flash of inspiration if we just stare long enough. Exasperated, he knows he won't be able to write until he clears things up with Teddy. He rushes home. Joyce mentions that Teddy claims to be sick. His father knows better. He knows that the kids at school are giving his son a hard time. Nonetheless, he confesses to his son seeking absolution. He tells him that, "…the truth is I wrote what Champ told me. I wrote what I wanted to believe. I should have looked into it more." He admits that he's told Teddy a lot of things that aren't true. He implies it's because he wants Teddy to be proud of him. Teddy suggests that he's still proud of his dad, maybe just not as much.
Next, we see 'the Champ' back on the street by his favorite dumpster. Apparently, Betty did not welcome him home with open arms. He's drinking again, straight out of the bottle. Up pulls a car. In his stupor he sees it as a limo, and out pops Rocky Marciano. He hears him mention the desire for a new sparring partner. The Champ obliges, and then as the punches start to fly, the vision changes. It is not Rocky at all, but rather, the dude who started it all. The guy who first brought his friends to watch him beat the champ that attracted Erik's attention is back. This time, he's alone and ready to give 'the Champ' a beating. The two fight, and 'the Champ' gets in some good punches. Eventually, he knocks the kid out, but not until after so much internal damage has been done to himself that he then falls flat on his back. As he begins to fall he utters the words, "Tommy Kincaid, California Golden Gloves champ," as if to note that he recognizes who he really is during his last moments of life. Erik and his family attend the funeral, and Erik writes his new story, a better story, a story with even more significance than the original. He writes, "The one force more powerful than a son wanting the admiration of his father, is fathers wanting the admiration of their sons." The scenes flash between the funeral, Erik's story being typed on screen, and Erik's new life back with his wife and son and new baby. He continues, "Lies from love can devastate as much as those from malice." He quotes Herman Melville, we can become "Men drained of valor".
1 comment:
Great review.
Post a Comment