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Fighting () [PG-13]
W.I.P. Scale™ Rating: $7.50
| Released on: 4/24/2009 | Running Time: 105 minutes |
| official web site | | preview trailer |
| complete review || 2cOrNot2c |
Directed by: Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints)
Written by: Robert Munic ("The Cleaner") and Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints)
Unsung Member of the Crew: Gaffer – Mo Flam
Featured Cast: (where you might remember him/her from)
Channing Tatum (Stop-Loss) • Terrence Howard (Iron Man) • Brian J. White (12 Rounds) • Luis Guzmán (He's Just Not That Into You) • Zulay Henao (Saturday Morning) • Flaco Navaja (Pride and Glory)
Spoiler Points for Fighting (2009)
If three quarters of the way through Dito Montiel’s Fighting, you got knocked out by the familiarity and déjà vu of the whole thing and woke up during the credits to rain sound effects and a woman’s voice saying “It’s raining Harvey, it’s raining,” and him saying“I know, Mary,” then this spoiler is for you.
• The entire film is building to a show down between Evan Hailey (Brian White) and Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum). Thinking they’ve finally got a way of ending Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard), their long time friend and rival, Jack Dancing (Roger Guenveur Smith) and Martinez (Luis Guzmán), agree to have Evan fight Shawn.
• When Harvey tells Shawn he’s gotten him a $100,000 fight, but that it’s with Evan, and he’s going to have to take a fall for them to make any money, Shawn is ok with it, but not with the fall part. Harvey raised $500K to place on Evan. Shawn finally agrees to take the fall, but he wants half the action and then to be able to disappear. Harvey finally agrees to the deal.
• Harvey gives Zulay (Zulay Henao) a briefcase with the money and has her deliver it to Jack to bet on the fight.
• The fight is held on the terrace of a stockbrokers rooftop condo in the Wall Street area.
• The fight begins with Evan de-shirting and trash-talking Shawn making cracks again about his father who used to be their mutual wrestling coach in high school. They go at each other. Shawn is definitely making the fight look real – a key factor in the plan for him to take a fall and it looking real. Eventually, they flip through a plastic wall and into the home. They continue to battle until, at last, Shawn gets Evan in a choke hold and caused him to pass out. While Harvey admits to having secretly hoped he would win, he now realizes he’s lost the money of his investors and is a dead man.
• Shawn goes to see Harvey the next morning in his apartment. Harvey looks scared, but at peace with what’s about to happen when Shawn hands him a suitcase full of money. He and Zulay put the bet on him to win. Harvey lights up. The case has a million dollars in it. He can pay back his investors, Shawn has $100K for winning the fight, and they can split the $500 K that remains. At which point, Shawn informs him that he and Zulay are heading to Alabama via Chicago if he wants to come.
• The final scene is of them all in Zulay’s station wagon driving across the bridge out of NYC and Zulay’s elder grandmother driving Harvey crazy already.
What could have made this movie better and less predictable?
• Twist suggestion number 1: Martinez and Jack could have been seen to have planned the whole thing by bringing Shawn up to NYC and putting him in the path of Harvey.
• Twist suggestion number 2: Evan and Shawn could have gotten the last laugh on everyone having set the whole thing up themselves, fixing the fights, and fooling the hustlers from the start.
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Other Projects Featuring Artists Involved In The Making Of
Fighting (2009)
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Director
Dito Montiel
Writers
Robert Munic
• Dito MontielCast Members
Channing Tatum
• Terrence Howard • Brian J. WhiteLuis Guzmán
• Zulay Henao • Flaco Navaja 
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