When college student Ali learns that he needs to amass a large amount of money in a short space of time in order to pay to fly his mother from Iran to the US he is persuaded by his college friend Ryan to participate in a high-stakes illegal fight club. Although initially successful, Ali soon finds himself having to up the ante in order to raise the necessary cash and pits himself against Muay Thai kick-boxing champion Bas. However, he can't do this alone and gets help from alcoholic ex-fighter Duke...
Unlike a lot of films of this nature our protagonist isn't merely doing this to 'prove himself' or to get 'revenge' as is the case in most of these films. He's actually raising the money for his mother's benefit; this selfless act automatically endeared me to the protagonist and gave me a reason to care. Ali's friend also takes a beating trying to look out for his friend showing that a deep friendship existed between the 2 men.
Much of the film is predictable and it's fair to say that you won't see anything here that you haven't seen before (then again who seriously watches films like this to be surprised???). You watch them for their intensity, the thrill of the fight and to watch the underdog overcome his opposition through a combination of brawn, brains and training and that's exactly what happens here. Director Shaun Piccinino keeps things nice and simple here; the dialogue is mostly straight-laced and as a whole the narrative is focused meaning that the film never goes off on a tangent and becomes dull. There's also a certain intensity to many of the fight scenes that kept me hooked.
With so many good fight related films it is a rather crowded genre and in all honesty American Fighter is a long way from being the best that the genre has to offer, but the idea that Ali isn't just fighting for himself does make it slightly different and it's the heart-warming angle to the story that makes it worth seeing.
