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Undisputed
Rocky meets The Longest Yard in the 2002 sports drama Undisputed that suffers from a cliched and predictable screenplay, but is watchable thanks to its leading man, one of the most underrated actors in the business.
Sweetwater State Penitentiary is a facility located in California's Mojave Desert that is so huge they actually have a boxing program, which has been dominated for the last decade by a lifer named Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) who is undefeated after 69 matches but his reign may come to an end when George "Iceman" Chambers (Ving Rhames), the current heavyweight boxing champion, is convicted of rape and sent to the same prison. Anyone who has ever seen a boxing movie or a prison movie can pretty much figure out what happens from there.
Walter Hill, the creative force behind films like 48 HRS and The Warriors, provides the viewer with a screenplay that is rich with every cliche we've ever seen from the genre and beats them into the ground in order to beef up what is really a paper thin story. A story that, by the way, doesn't present the American prison systems in a very flattering light. Chambers taunts Hutchen minutes after his arrival and, for some reason, Hutchen gets put in solitary. Why would the authorities put the world heavyweight boxing champion in general population anyway? There's also a lot of screentime devoted to establishing the fact that Chambers is guilty of the rape charge and that he is deep financial trouble, which precipitates the need for him accepting the climactic match, but it's so unnecessary. The man wouldn't be sent to such a large facility if he wasn't guilty.
I was also troubled that a lot of the events in the course of the story are orchestrated by an aging mafioso/inmate, beautifully played by the late Peter Falk. It was a little hard to swallow that this guy practically had the entire prison population under his thumb and not just the population. He actually arranges a meeting with the Warden, who has decided to forbid the big fight, and discreetly advises the guy that he better go on vacation for awhile. As for the climactic battle itself, it's well-staged and photographed, but honestly, after years of watching Rocky movies, it was hard to buy a boxing match where not a drop of blood was shed...I kid you not, no blood, not even a scratch above the eye that the corner man had to cut open.
The best thing about this movie was the 100-megawatt, movie star performance from Ving Rhames as the Iceman. This guy has more screen charisma than he knows what to do with, which he had already proved in Pulp Fiction, but even with rather contrived material to work with, he still manages to light up the screen. Snipes is appropriately stone-faced as Hutchen and Falk, Michael Rooker, and Fisher Stevens also make the most of their screentime, but it is Ving Rhames that makes this one worth a look. Followed by a sequel.
Rocky meets The Longest Yard in the 2002 sports drama Undisputed that suffers from a cliched and predictable screenplay, but is watchable thanks to its leading man, one of the most underrated actors in the business.
Sweetwater State Penitentiary is a facility located in California's Mojave Desert that is so huge they actually have a boxing program, which has been dominated for the last decade by a lifer named Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) who is undefeated after 69 matches but his reign may come to an end when George "Iceman" Chambers (Ving Rhames), the current heavyweight boxing champion, is convicted of rape and sent to the same prison. Anyone who has ever seen a boxing movie or a prison movie can pretty much figure out what happens from there.
Walter Hill, the creative force behind films like 48 HRS and The Warriors, provides the viewer with a screenplay that is rich with every cliche we've ever seen from the genre and beats them into the ground in order to beef up what is really a paper thin story. A story that, by the way, doesn't present the American prison systems in a very flattering light. Chambers taunts Hutchen minutes after his arrival and, for some reason, Hutchen gets put in solitary. Why would the authorities put the world heavyweight boxing champion in general population anyway? There's also a lot of screentime devoted to establishing the fact that Chambers is guilty of the rape charge and that he is deep financial trouble, which precipitates the need for him accepting the climactic match, but it's so unnecessary. The man wouldn't be sent to such a large facility if he wasn't guilty.
I was also troubled that a lot of the events in the course of the story are orchestrated by an aging mafioso/inmate, beautifully played by the late Peter Falk. It was a little hard to swallow that this guy practically had the entire prison population under his thumb and not just the population. He actually arranges a meeting with the Warden, who has decided to forbid the big fight, and discreetly advises the guy that he better go on vacation for awhile. As for the climactic battle itself, it's well-staged and photographed, but honestly, after years of watching Rocky movies, it was hard to buy a boxing match where not a drop of blood was shed...I kid you not, no blood, not even a scratch above the eye that the corner man had to cut open.
The best thing about this movie was the 100-megawatt, movie star performance from Ving Rhames as the Iceman. This guy has more screen charisma than he knows what to do with, which he had already proved in Pulp Fiction, but even with rather contrived material to work with, he still manages to light up the screen. Snipes is appropriately stone-faced as Hutchen and Falk, Michael Rooker, and Fisher Stevens also make the most of their screentime, but it is Ving Rhames that makes this one worth a look. Followed by a sequel.