Undisputed (2002)
Directed by Walter Hill
Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. When these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.
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What emerges is a lean, surprisingly artful programmer, closer in spirit to something like Don Siegel's Riot in Cell Block 11 than to typical boxing fare.
Nor does "Undisputed" stack up favorably against the original "Rocky" or even the worst of its less-than-impressive sequels even 1990's horrid "Rocky V," for that matter.
The likes of Michael Rooker ("The 6th Day," "The Bone Collector"), Jon Seda ("Price of Glory," "Selena"), Wes Studi ("Mystery Men," "Deep Rising"), Fisher Stevens ("Pinero," "The Tic Code") and Dayton Callie ("Volcano," "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar") appear in various supporting roles with varying results.
As Mendy Ripstein, Peter Falk vies for Joe Pesci’s Goodfellas fucks-per-minute record as an aging mafioso with insider connections.
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Over the last couple decades, Hill has produced a plethora of notable gems such as Streets of Fire , 48 Hours, The Warriors , and Southern Comfort .
Director Walter Hill cut his teeth as one of the best action directors of the late '70s and early '80s with "The Warriors," "The Long Riders" and "Southern Comfort," though he never lived up to that promise.
It's a pattern that begins with his early films -- The Driver, a story about a getaway car driver and the weirdo cop on his trail; the gang warfare of The Warriors; The Long Riders saga that focuses on the Jesse James gang; and the weekend warriors of Southern Comfort pitted against Southern crackers in the Louisiana swamp -- and continues with the less commercially successful films of his later career -- the Western gunslinger tales, Wild Bill and Last Man Standing.
Otherwise, don't expect anything along the lines of "Rocky," "Raging Bull" or even "Ali."
"Raging Bull" this movie ain't.
Written and directed by testosterone junkie Walter Hill - who's been on a career nosedive of recent with flops such as "Supernova," "Last Man Standing" and "Wild Bill" after starting off with such promise helming "The Warriors" and "48 Hours" - and stemming from a script he co-wrote with previous collaborator David Giler ("Alien 3," "The Money Pit"), the film offers no surprises.
But the picture doesn't have the depth and raw mournfulness of one of Hill's best movies, 1992's "Trespass"; nor does it have much of the freewheeling style of another one of his great B movies, "The Warriors" (1979).
The man behind the gang drama “The Warriors” and the urban comedy “48 Hrs” is a man who knows about street talk and testosterone-influenced situations.
Veteran genre director Walter Hill ( The Warriors , Streets of Fire) accomplishes something new by building up the villain as a rich, fully-rounded character and stripping the hero down to a mysterious Clint Eastwood-like cipher.
But like Hill's underestimated Trespass and Johnny Handsome or his lauded The Warriors, beneath the veneer of an expert, somewhat gritty film noir redux lurks a strong social conscience and a canny visual storyteller.
Over the last couple decades, Hill has produced a plethora of notable gems such as Streets of Fire , 48 Hours, The Warriors , and Southern Comfort .
He pitted Charles Bronson and James Coburn against each other in his first picture, " Hard Times " (1975), and reinvented the cop buddy movie with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in "48 HRS."
In some ways, Hill returns to his roots; he tackled a gritty boxing tale in his 1975 debut "Hard Times" with Charles Bronson.
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Michael Rooker (" Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer ") has an important role as the prison guard who coordinates the boxing matches, protected by the benign detachment of the warden.
Undisputed is littered with a ton of characters actors such as Fisher Stevens ( Hackers ), Michael Rooker ( Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer ), Jon Seda, and Wes Studi (Geronimo) and a knockout performance (pun intended) by Ving Rhames strutting and beating down everything and everyone in his way.
But the picture doesn't have the depth and raw mournfulness of one of Hill's best movies, 1992's "Trespass"; nor does it have much of the freewheeling style of another one of his great B movies, "The Warriors" (1979).
But like Hill's underestimated Trespass and Johnny Handsome or his lauded The Warriors, beneath the veneer of an expert, somewhat gritty film noir redux lurks a strong social conscience and a canny visual storyteller.
In its focus on its opposing forces, Undisputed is much like Hill's other films (most like those he's directed, like Hard Times or Trespass, though also related to the Alien series, which he's produced and co-written).