Film Guide

Small town boy Shawn MacArthur is barely earning a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets, but his luck changes when he meets hustler Harvey Boarden who introduces him to the world of bare knuckle street fighting. Shawn of course is a natural.

The thing that irked me right from the start – and I’ll admit, its something that I let slide in many films, but for some reason it bugged me in this one – is that we’re given no reason for Shawn to be out on the street seeling knockoffs. It’s like one day he just up and left home, travelled to New York and decided to try his had at selling counterfeit. It just didn’t seem right.

Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t be looking for reality in a film about back street fighting, but there you go. 

It gets worse however as the storyline in unbelievably cheesy and slow to the point of putting you in a coma – I literally had to watch this over two nights as it put me to sleep.

So why did I come back to endure the second half the following night? Because the fighting scenes were so damn good. The fact that there are only about three or four in the whole film is a little slack. The disturbing thing of course is that this wanton bloodlust was the only reason for wanting to watch this film.

All in all, one worth avoiding.

FILMGUIDE rating:


Reviewed by: Jonathan Read
Release date: February 10th, 2010
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Director: Montiel, Dito
Languages: English
Length (Minutes): 105
Stars: Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Luis Guzma¡n, Brian J. White, Quinton Aaron
Studio: Roadshow Entertainment
Subtitles: English
Supported Audio: Dolby Digital Surround 2.0
Supported Audio: Dolby Digital Surround 5.1