Film Review: Grudge Match

Grudge Match. Rated M (sporting violence and coarse language). 113 minutes. Directed by Peter Segal. Screenplay by Tim Kelleher and Rodney Rothman.

Verdict: Great idea on paper.

In theory at least, the cinematic possibilities of casting Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro in a film about boxers coming out of retirement to settle an old score, are obvious and irresistible. Stallone’s Rocky Balboa (first introduced to us in 1976’s Rocky), remains one of cinema’s most celebrated and instantly recognisable characters. De Niro’s performance as Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece Raging Bull (1980), is regarded as one of the finest ever committed to film.

So is it fair to compare this ordinary outing to the vastly superior films from which it takes its attention-seeking premise? While Grudge Match never comes close to being a worthy companion to either those characters or the films in which they appeared to be forever burned into our memory, there is a curiosity bordering on the bizzare in watching Stallone as Henry 'Razor' Sharp and De Niro as Billy 'The Kid' McDonnen muddle their way through Kelleher and Rothman’s cliché-stricken script that never even begins to rise to the occasion.

Segal’s overly-reverential direction abandons his stars to flounder in the sense of their own, now-fading magnificence, while the scenes that come close to working (De Niro pleading with Stallone to go through with the fight outside his house one night simmers beautifully) are too few and far between.

The supporting cast, including the exceptional Jon Bernthal (Snitch, The Walking Dead) as McDonnen’s son BJ and the veteran Alan Arkin (Argo, Little Miss Sunshine) as Sharp’s trainer Louis who has seen better days, contribute fine work – arguably all the more effective because they appear saddled with less baggage from the glorious past. It is also a past that Grudge Match seeks to capitalise on, and one that ultimately brings De Niro, Stallone and the film itself down to earth with a deafening and somewhat embarrassing thud.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Snitch

Snitch. Rated M (drug use and violence). 112 minutes. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh. Screenplay by Justin Haythe and Ric Roman Waugh.

Verdict: A terrifically intense thriller about how far a father will go to save his son.

This tense and tight thriller about just how far a father will go to save the life of his imprisoned young son absolutely scorches across the screen – wasting no time whatsoever in taking us into the murky underworld of drug trafficking.

When construction company boss John Matthews’ (Dwayne Johnson) son Jason (Rafi Gavron) is imprisoned for trafficking drugs, John decides to help the law enforcement agencies – led by Susan Sarandon’s US Attorney Joanne Keeghan – snare bigger fish in return for having his son’s sentence reduced. With the help of one of his employees Daniel (Jon Bernthal), who has a conviction for trafficking narcotics, John risks everything he has and the lives of everyone he knows to right a terrible wrong.

With its heart on its sleeve and a truckload of moral dilemmas to resolve, Haythe and Waugh’s terrific and efficient screenplay plays with almost impossibly high stakes. Every character has something incredibly important to gain or lose, and the way in which Jason is in worse and worse shape when John regularly visits him in prison is an extremely powerful motivator.

Wrestler turned actor Johnson (aka The Rock) delivers a solid performance as the indefatigable John Matthews, but it is the supporting cast assembled around him that really delivers the goods. Bernthal (The Walking Dead), in particular, is outstanding as John’s co-conspirator and delivers one of the best and most interesting performances of the year so far. Gavron (The Cold Light of Day) is excellent as the young man struggling to hold it together in jail, and as we watch him slowly deteriorating as a result of relentless assaults, it is not difficult whatsoever to appreciate why his father is taking the terrible risks he is to save his son’s life.

Antonio Pinot’s (Love in the Time of Cholera, The Host) score constantly powers the increasing tension and becomes a critical part of the film’s overall effectiveness, while Dana Gonzales (Empire State) continues to build his reputation as a cinematographer with some fine work, beautifully accounting for the film’s many changes in mood and tone.

But ultimately, this is stuntman turned director Waugh’s film, and with a powerful screenplay and precise direction of his excellent cast, he has successfully marked himself as a director to watch out for.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.