FIGHTING – dito montiel – 2.2 / 10

There are really only two types of boxing movies: ones about an underdog facing a bigger / tougher / more experienced champion in a fight no one expects him to win (all six Rocky films, Cinderella Man, etc.) and ones about whether or not the hero will throw the big fight for a fistful of cash (The Set-Up, Pulp Fiction, etc.). In a genre this limited and formulaic, the fact that Fighting aims to combine these two plots marks it as at least slightly different. Unfortunately, different does not mean better as Fighting just goes through the motions without any particular verve, passion or momentum. For a film about people beating the crap out of each other with their bare fists, it’s incredibly laid back and doesn’t seem to take anything all that seriously.