I enjoy this movie. It's interesting. It's a bit different to what I thought it was going to be, but it was still a very enjoyable time.
This movie is about two former boxers who were rivals thirty years ago. Henry "Razor" Sharp and Billy "The Kid" McDonnen have been fighting ever since Razor retired because he slept with Billy's girlfriend and got her pregnant. Awkward. But now, thirty years later, a promoter wants them to fight each other in one of the most popular matches of all time. People would love to see them fight again, but Razor doesn't want to. But when Razor loses his job and finds out that he's broke, he has no choice but to play the game. Coming out of retirement for one final match, both our leads get ready to knock the other one out.
Overall, I give this movie an 8 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Awesome.
Grudge Match
2013
Action / Comedy / Drama / Sport
Grudge Match
2013
Action / Comedy / Drama / Sport
Plot summary
Henry "Razor" Sharp and Billy "The Kid" McDonnen are two boxers who thirty years ago were rivals. Just before a big match Razor decides to retire because Billy slept with his girlfriend, Sally Rose and got her pregnant. Today a promoter, Dante Slate wants to have them fight each other but Razor doesn't want to. But when he loses his job and learns he's broke, he has no choice. So he trains under his old trainer. Billy while training, meets B.J., the son he had with Sally Rose and he asks B.J. to train him. And Sally Rose tries to get Razor to forgive her but he can't.
Uploaded by: OTTO
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
A pretty good movie...
Not as bad as I fear
Henry 'Razor' Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) and Billy 'The Kid' McDonnen (Robert De Niro) were the toughest of rivals. At the height of their rivalry with a big fight coming up, Razor abandons his boxing career and retires after Billy gets his girlfriend Sally Rose pregnant. Now 30 years later, Razor is working a lunch box job while Billy is still living off of his past success. Dante Slate Jr. (Kevin Hart) is the son of their late former promoter who comes to them with a job for a video game. Billy ambushes Razor at the video game taping and starts a fight. The fight goes viral and Dante has a new opportunity. He offers them $100k each to fight for real. Razor gets his old trainer Louis Conlon (Alan Arkin) to help. Sally (Kim Basinger) and the long lost son B.J. (Jon Bernthal) re-enter their lives.
It's not as horrible as I feared. The big problem is that most of the jokes don't work. Even the red hot Kevin Hart can't solve that problem. He's not in it enough anyways. This movie almost works with the dysfunctional personal drama, but it's a little too slow. Kim Basinger and Stallone have very awkward chemistry. DeNiro has a better time with his new family. It's a lot of geezer jokes and geezer training. There are a couple of smirk-worthy moments like Razor almost punching the slabs of meat or Alan Arkin having fun with Kevin Hart. The movie has its moments but the ending drags on and on. It turns into way too serious of a fight. Stallone just can't let go of Rocky. Peter Segal is not a favored comedic director of mine. This does not improve my opinion of him.
Rocky Lite
In the Mid 1970s Stallone struck oil with Rocky and a few years later De Niro won an Oscar for playing legendary boxer Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. A part where he reached physical fitness and trained as a boxer and then later piled on the pounds to play La Motta in later life.
This teaming up of two icons comes across as Rocky lite with only Bill Conti's iconic Rocky Theme missing.
Things do not start off too well as we see these guys in their younger years as boxers in their prime but CGI is provided by a Playstation 2!
However things step up when this two rivals agree to a boxing rematch. Stallone is the one who left his ring career behind, lost his fortune and works hard for a living and feels the financial incentive is the only reason for this sideshow.
De Niro who has a bar and is financially comfortable is motivated by revenge and still bitter. His character even hit it with Stallone's girlfriend years earlier (Kim Basinger) and made her pregnant and is all for the rematch to prove a point.
We are then left with these old has been getting ready for the fight. Stallone ropes in his old trainer (Alan Arkin) whereas De Niro needs to convince LL Cool J to give him some training and finally ends up with his new found son he had with Basinger training him.
As they near the fight De Niro gets too spend time with his son and grandson and bonds with them both whilst Basinger and Stallone also rekindle their relationship. At the same time their promoter Kevin Hart does a good job in reviving media interest in this grudge match as the fight moves to a bigger arena.
The film is actually more likable that I thought it would be as both actors take to the script in the right spirit. Not too seriously and not too lightly. Its still a rehash with Stallone dealing with similar themes of an old boxer stepping into the limelight a few years ago in Rocky Balboa, so it just looks too familiar. Even Arkin's curmudgeon is not that far removed from his Oscar winning role in Little Miss Sunshine.