Hands Of Stone
Hands Of Stone tells the story of boxing legend Roberto Duran. A film that sometimes gets the storytelling right but takes an eight count for poorly choreographed boxing sequences. More on that later. Starring Edgar Ramirez as the great fighter his performance here is rather good. Quality support from Robert De Niro as his legendary trainer Ray Arcel is a given. The utterly gorgeous Ana de Armas is also great as Duran's partner. To be honest I could watch Ana de Armas doing something as mundane as collecting carpet samples, but hey that's just me.
Hands Of Stone is a decent boxing movie apart from the dire boxing sequences which are so muddled and incoherent they look like they've been directed by a Labrador with a GoPro strapped to its back. Storytelling jumps around Duran's timeline with no warning making the film a challenge to comprehend. Even so the script does enough to explain Roberto's life struggles. His growing up in Panama to his in the ring rivalry with All time great Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray is played here by Usher who does an adequate job at portraying the legend but ultimately he doesn't have Leonard's vibrancy or charisma. I'm a huge fan of the genre. Rocky, Creed, Raging Bull are all classics. Hands of Stone fails to live up to such talented movies. This is a film that is better when it doesn't focus on the fighting. It's a crisp looking movie with a nicely clean transfer. Audio is adequate for this type of movie but like the rest of the package it offers nothing to allow it to stand toe to toe with Rocky or the recent Creed movies. I enjoyed Hands Of Stone but I don't believe the film did Duran's life story justice.
Hands Of Stone tells the story of boxing legend Roberto Duran. A film that sometimes gets the storytelling right but takes an eight count for poorly choreographed boxing sequences. More on that later. Starring Edgar Ramirez as the great fighter his performance here is rather good. Quality support from Robert De Niro as his legendary trainer Ray Arcel is a given. The utterly gorgeous Ana de Armas is also great as Duran's partner. To be honest I could watch Ana de Armas doing something as mundane as collecting carpet samples, but hey that's just me.
Hands Of Stone is a decent boxing movie apart from the dire boxing sequences which are so muddled and incoherent they look like they've been directed by a Labrador with a GoPro strapped to its back. Storytelling jumps around Duran's timeline with no warning making the film a challenge to comprehend. Even so the script does enough to explain Roberto's life struggles. His growing up in Panama to his in the ring rivalry with All time great Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray is played here by Usher who does an adequate job at portraying the legend but ultimately he doesn't have Leonard's vibrancy or charisma. I'm a huge fan of the genre. Rocky, Creed, Raging Bull are all classics. Hands of Stone fails to live up to such talented movies. This is a film that is better when it doesn't focus on the fighting. It's a crisp looking movie with a nicely clean transfer. Audio is adequate for this type of movie but like the rest of the package it offers nothing to allow it to stand toe to toe with Rocky or the recent Creed movies. I enjoyed Hands Of Stone but I don't believe the film did Duran's life story justice.