This past weekend saw the release of ‘FIGHTING’ a big screen movie starring Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard. The story revolves around the underground fighting scene in New York City, with Howard’s character playing and unscrupulous underground figure who backs the young fighter as he gets involved in the bare knuckle fighting scene. Despite not being truly about MMA, the movie has been advertised heavily on many MMA sites prior to release, and is clearly targeting that audience.
The movie opened to stronger than expected ticket sales over this past weekend and in fact finished 3rd for the week in ticket sales, earning over $11 million dollars. Tatum is also set to star in a movie later this year based on the G.I. Joe comic book and toy line, and that is expected to be a major blockbuster.
The movie itself is receiving mixed reviews. The fight scenes are reported to include modern techniques and writer and director Dito Montiel is reported to have put great care into his attempts to make them look realistic and spontaneous. Montiel received critical acclaim for his previous effort "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints’, and he again tries to capture the grit of New York in this film. Terrence Howard, who has appeared in many major films throughout his career including ‘Iron Man’, also put on a performance that has been warmly received. He was nominated for an Oscar previously for his acting in ‘Hustle and Flow’. Channing on the other hand, seems to have come across as dull and uninspired in pulling off his role of a country boy fighting to make it in the big city.
Read the complete Entertainment weekly review of the movie at: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20274265,00.html
take A Look at the review from the Los Angeles Times at: http://www.fandango.com/fighting_120707/criticreviews
