Category Archives: Boxing

2000, Boxing, British, Complicated, Crime, Dog Story, Frenetic, Gangs, Mayhem, Satirical ultra-violence, Violent, Vulgar

Snatch (2000)

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From NetFlix:

An Irish gypsy gets involved in a match-fixing boxing racket, a vast diamond heist is about to go down and London’s gangster underworld is blown open in this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, twisty crime caper featuring a motley cluster of characters. Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) writes and directs; Stephen Graham, Dennis Farina, Rade Serbedzija, Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt star.

“Snatch” is yet another example of what I call “satirical ultra-violence”. Think “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”. Or just think “Jason Statham”. Probably an early example of this type of film was “Pulp Fiction”.

However, in this case Jason Statham is not an action doll. Instead he is the sarcastic well-spoken narrator with a really stupid sidekick Tommy. In fact, despite the many sometimes difficult-to-understand British dialects, the dialog is often very polite understated English spoken in moments of complete destruction or mayhem. There are many wonderful sight gags that made me laugh out loud. And of course there is a lot of VIOLENCE, although I have trouble remembering any visible gore. The idea is to laugh at violence that seems too improbable to be possible. What have we come to ?

As usual there are many characters and many subgroups all interacting. If you don’t mind the violence, than just enjoy the nonsense and mayhem. You will love the dog!

2010, Based on true facts, Boxing, Drama, Drugs, Feel Good Not For Children, Prison, Sex Scenes, Sports, Violent

The Fighter (2010)

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From NetFlix:

After a string of defeats, Mickey Ward rediscovers his fighting will with help from trainer and half-brother Dicky (Oscar winner Christian Bale) — a once-talented pugilist and small-town hero now battling drug addiction.

What makes this film so amazing are the performances of Christian Bale as the drug-addicted self-deceiving brother and of Melissa Leo as Alice Ward, the mother of the boxer Mickey Ward.

What shocked me at first was how Amy Adams presented Charlene Fleming as such a “tough broad”. But then, almost all the Lowell women were portrayed in exactly the same way. Throughout the film the F-word was ever present as were all the other usual swear words. Mickey’s sisters were a sight to behold.

Manipulative in the extreme, Alice Ward struck me as repellent. But true to her character she fights to the end to maintain control over her 9 children and her long-suffering husband. Only when Dicky goes to prison will Alice admit to his addiction.

Did Dicky really ever admit to himself that he was not God’s gift to Lowell ? According to the film he finally sees the light. But I could not find any information (such as a Wikipedia article) on just how historically accurate this film was. If you find something, let me know.

The real Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund are shown during the end credits.

Well worth the watch.