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film review

Dominic Purcell in A FIGHTING MAN. Image courtesy of levelFILM.Kerry Hayes

Or, Not Another Boxing Movie.

Prison Break's Dominic Purcell cuts a doughy, passably De Niro-ish figure as Sailor O'Connor, a washed up small-time boxer who re-enters the ring, hoping to take his dying ma (Sheila McCarthy) to Ireland with the prize money.

James Caan (whose effortless talent casts the film's defining crudeness in further relief), Lou Gossett Jr., Michael Ironside, Kim Coates and Famke Janssen (Yes! From Taken 2!), nudge A Fighting Man through round after pummelling round of fight movie cliché.

Irish guilt, redemption, opportunism, alcoholism … writer-director Damian Lee puts all across with about as much nuance as a bruising left hook.

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