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Undisputed /

Rated: R

Starring: Ving Rhames, Wesley Snipes, Peter Falk, Fisher Stevens, Ed Lover 

Directed by: Walter Hill 

Produced by: Andrew Sugarman, Walter Hill, David Giler, Brad Krevoy, Andrew Sugerman 

Written by: Walter Hill, David Giler 

Distributor: Miramax Films

 

Movie Image

Movie Image

Movie Image

     What if you had a chance to do what you love after being locked behind bars? In Undisputed, every six months a boxing match between two prisoners occurs. The referee is a prisoner, the announcer is a prisoner, the audience is full of prisoners, and the rink is inside of the prison in which most of them live. The topic discussed is an amazing way to combine reality with a story to create a wonderful screenplay. Sure, there probably aren’t boxing matches that go on in the middle of a jail all the way out in the Mojave Desert. But, it’s a great idea; prisoners are strong and burly fighters; why not stick a pair of gloves on them and let them take out all of their anger usually kept in a 10 x 10 cell? The film is a realistic approach at making a farfetched idea come to life onscreen.

      Monroe Hutchen has life in prison and he makes the best of it when fight night comes around. There is only one champ in prison, and he has been it for ten years. He’s one of the best undiscovered boxers out there. Any competitor, any size; he’ll take them on. Until one day, when George “The Iceman” Chambers comes to the prison for conviction of rape. The Iceman is the heavyweight champion of the world outside of the bars. His sentence is 5 – 8 years, though his agent hopes that he’s out on parole for good behavior within two in fear of his career in boxing getting destroyed. You can guess what happens next, right? The two champs converge with anger and the other men locked away want to see them fight. Monroe is apprehensive, but when Peter Falk’s character offers him a good heaping of money to be used to support family members in return for the fight; he has no choice but to say yes or his title will be questioned…The Iceman’s ego is a lot bigger than Hutchen’s, but members of the film’s audience never know who will win for sure until they dance it out on the mat. Some people said that this movie was extremely predictable, but that was never an issue for me.

     Every prisoner has a story. Every prisoner has a conviction. In Undisputed when you meet a character, at the bottom right corner of the screen their conviction and date convicted flashes up, followed by a short flashback or sound effect of the crime being committed. This really helped me to enjoy the film because I knew what all of the characters were in jail for; and was able to make an opinion on them For example, I would rather be stuck with the guy convicted of car-jacking rather than the Iceman whom was in for rape. There are a lot of choices you make upon viewing this picture unfold, including who you root for to win the boxing match. I took it as an obvious decision and chose to root for the underdog. But, this decision if the Iceman forms a good impression on you, his crime is very controversial and up in the air (he also pleads not guilty to it). In some parts you have to way morals against values, pros against cons; it was surprising that this movie made me think so much, I thought it would be similar to Ali, just sitting there on the table without any real thought put into it.

     Undisputed is a triumphant masterpiece that captures the many stereotypes of different prisoners extremely well. Two sold performances from Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames secured the great impression that the movie held on me. It also was interesting to see the Peter Falk, who wasn’t very good, though it was bizarre, but cool to see him say the “F” word forty times in forty seconds. The movie is well worthy of a rental if it’s not far enough up your alley to make a trip to the theater. I wouldn’t normally go and see it for leisurely purposes, but I took the chance and liked it. Undisputed is the heavyweight champion of all boxing movies made in the last five years.

-Danny, Bucket Reviews

 


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