MovieChat Forums > Undisputed (2002) Discussion > WORST...MOVIE...EVE R

WORST...MOVIE...EVE R

posted 20 years ago by j4ny21
22 replies | jump to latest

There are some movies that have some sort of entertainment value, which makes them watchable once or maybe even twice, but all-in-all, are movies that make you question how in the hell they ever got greenlit in the first place. Undisputed embodies that, to me. Boxing is always fun to watch, so I'll admit that there was that catchy aspect to the film when I first saw it. Upon subsequent viewings (two of them, unfortunately) the idiocy of the film started to overshadow the entertainment value provided by the few fight scenes. Let's talk specifically about said idiocy:

1) In what I can only assume is a maximum security prison, considering all the muderers, rapists, etc., the warden rolls over and lets Michael Rooker (don't even get me started about that a-hole) run a fight, as long as they leave no evidence. Then the mobsters show up and are running bets on the fight...Evidence? Publicity? I'd say so.

2) Just by sheer coincidence, the heavyweight champ and the hottest prospect of his day, AND a boxing-obsessed mobster with the connections end up in the same prison. I guess God had a hand in this fight.

3) The dialog sucks sucks SUCKS!!!!!! My favorite example would be the scene when Ripstein is telling Monroe about the fight and Monroe asks for a percentage, and Monroe says "I know fighters usually get 50% ON THE OUTSIDE" which is followed up with the all too predictable, "But we're not on the outside." When dialog is that obviously used as a gimmick to allow for cool lines (it is my theory, bordering on fact, that the only reason Monroe says "on the outside" [which is implied, considering fighters don't get paid on the INSIDE] is to allow for this "cool" line to be said by the hispanic dude (dunno his name)).

4) The skinheads and the black prisoners unite behind Monroe. So emotional, I couldn't see the screen through my tears.

5) Michael Rooker---somebody kill him.

There are more, but I'd like other opinions, agree or disagree, but as you can see, I want this movie to die. Slowly.

[–] the_guide2050 19 years ago

you racist peice of *beep*

u dont like the movie coz your white and you hate on black ppl.

and your a nerd. geek, that loves heavy metal. / rock music..

this movie is great!!!!!!

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] pmt008 15 years ago

I agree with the title of this thread, but not necessarily with the reasons. Here are mine:

- Who was the story about? You see flashbacks for a the 2 main characters, but then Snipes is more or less removed from the body of the story and so we have no reason to care about him. Then, at the end, it is narrated by the guy that was looking after Peter Falk. I still haven't got a clue who this story was about.

- Who was the good guy and who was the bad guy? Or was there even a good and bad guy? Who can tell? Rhames' character is a convicted rapist, so you assume he's the bad guy. Then he declares he's innocent. So is it a story of redemption? We then see Snipes' character saying that he only lost his temper once and he killed someone, so is it redemption for him by showing the champ what he could do? We then see Rhames punching out everyone and then explaining it with a pleading look on his face as he goes through all the troubles of being a fighter for a living. Confused too? Don't blame you!

- What was the point to the story? We have a boxer in prison for rape who pushes people around before getting into an arranged fight, losing and then getting out early and winning the world title. We have a boxer who got life for killing a guy before he could make it to the big money fights who then has his chance to fight the champ, wins and goes back to making oriental buildings from toothpicks. We have a boxing enthusiast, who arranges a fight for an underdog against a proper boxing champ, and his sidekick who looks after him all the time and inherits a load of money when the old guy dies. None of these stories are fleshed out, none of them are given any depth, it's as if the writer came up with the premise, scribbled it down and then decided that that was enough for a good film!

-Finally, what a pathetic boxing match! Even the fights from the Rocky films (and let's face it, they are pretty far fetched at best!) were better than this. It was 1 sided, then it switched and then Snipes won. No real story told through the fight. No decent camera work to be seen. Just 2 guys hitting each other and falling over a couple of times each.

Fortunately, this was just shown on BBC, so I paid nothing more than what I pay anyway for having a TV, because I would have wanted my money back if I'd paid to see it!

[–] mickyw33 15 years ago

The fight scene was even worse than that imo.

They had this boxing angle to a prison movie, and somehow managed to make the actual boxing fights... terrible. Couple of actors, moving slowly around each other (I watch a lot of boxing, those two could use a body double or two for their atrocious footwork, especially Ving) obviously wiffing punches for the camera while they play a *whomp* sound effect for each punch... even when they clearly miss.

No music. Very little emotion even when there were a few unconvincing knockdowns. I've watched a lot of boxing and MMA matches in my day and neither Wesley or Rhymes took any damage what so ever or even showed any signs of visible fatigue like a real fighter would. Just two actors who trained for a few months, throwing slow punches at the air and trying to act. Even more pathetic is how they built it up as both fighters using lighter gloves than normal and they STILL looked slow for boxers. These guys are suppose to be the heavy weight champs, or at least the one. Come on now, get real.

Not to mention the God awful camera work. Multiple angles from outside of the cage (which does not make for a good boxing match on film, prison or no) all at the same distance, showing the same crap for a really, really long time. Ugh, all of this makes for a very non-interesting movie boxing fight. I am glad they went with the over the top martial arts fights in Undisputed 2 as opposed to attempting this again. Hell they even got a ring for it! Terrible action movies still need the good action scenes. Otherwise... they are just plain terrible.