I generously give this film 4 stars because the story is terrific even though the movie messes far too much with its much more interesting actual history. I am a fan of early 19th Century English boxing and looked forward to seeing this, especially with Russell Crowe in the cast. The acting is fine, as is the casting, and unlike some critics I like the cinematography. The film also does sort of okay capturing the time's fight game corruption and brutality. However, the script is atrocious, the directing almost as bad, and whoever edited the movie should find some other line of work because scene transitions are so poorly done. All the main film characters existed and had interesting lives. Jem Belcher, England's boxing champion in the very early 19th Century, came from a long line of good family prize fighters including his grandfather Jack Slack, ably played by Russell Crowe, and his father, who is inexplicably nowhere to be seen in the movie. Jem's classic fight with Henry Pearce may have been Europe's best one ever, but its depiction here does little justice to what really happened. I often like shorter movies but this one could have used about 15 more minutes to flesh out the true main character lives. Matt Hookings plays Belcher well and Jodhi May plays his mother, who hated fighting because she grew up with it, even better. Ray Winstone, always amazingly good, gives a performance as Belcher's trainer even better than Crowe's, so those who appreciate quality acting can see this one without feeling like they wasted their time despite the film's serious flaws. With some harder production work this might have been good enough for some award nominations. Instead, I hope the Razzies bypass it for the hard-working cast's sake.
