BEFORE: Boxing personality Jim Lampley carries over again from "Undisputed". According to IMDB, Wesley Snipes also has a cameo somewhere in the crowd, so that's two reasons to put this one next.
THE PLOT: Two best friends and former middleweight contenders travel to Las Vegas to fight each other for the first time.
AFTER: I've still got one boxing movie left after this, but it looks like this is where some of the week's themes will get tied together. We've got two boxers who share an ex-girlfriend ("Grudge Match") and she's a woman who dispenses constructive boxing advice ("Against the Ropes") to fighters who are being manipulated by unscrupulous promoters ("The Great White Hype"). And there's a long, slow build-up to the fight itself ("Undisputed").
But in this case, the delay takes the form of a car trip to Las Vegas - it's a road movie, then a boxing movie. Because if the fighters took a plane as they were supposed to, the film would only be about an hour long. Instead we get a chance to know them over the long drive, and all their inner fears and desires about boxing and relationships are exposed. But the delaying tactics are quite evident - whenever there's an incident that a character doesn't want to talk about, despite repeated inquiries, you can tell that a screenwriter is just stalling for time.
The addition of another driving companion halfway through the trip seems like just another delaying complication - or perhaps she's there just to reinforce one character's sexuality, otherwise one might question how close these two men are, and whether there's any more to their relationship than being sparring partners. But the worst stalling tactic is having the other female character go into a truck stop restroom and spread her clothes and make-up all over the place, getting herself ready for the big fight, completely ignoring the need of the boxers to arrive at the casino. Did she forget that they're on a tight timetable? Meanwhile, we the audience are not only watching a woman apply make-up, but also watching the boxers do NOTHING while waiting for her to finish. Ha, ha, women sure do spend a lot of time getting dressed, don't they?
During the boxing match, things get weird, presumably because the fighters are getting hit in the head so much, jarring loose some old memories and causing some bizarre hallucinations to happen. This is where it becomes less like "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and more like "Requiem for a Dream".
We're told it's very important to "play it to the bone", but what exactly does that mean? Is it just general advice about endurance, or does it mean something specific, like "don't wait until the count of 9 to start getting up"? Maybe it just means that you've got to give the fight everything you've got, because if you don't, you're going to remember that and focus on it, and you'll drown in regret.
In the end, nothing is resolved, which is very disappointing. Who gets the girl? Who won the fight? Who gets a shot at the middleweight title? Come on, does it really matter? Umm, yeah, it kinda does. Instead our heroes just take a shower (together?), play some roulette and drive home. If one of them weren't so homophobic, I'd say they should have a three-way with their shared ex-girlfriend and get it over with. At least then maybe a few things would be settled.
The well-choreographed fight goes the distance, but if you ask me, the plot takes a dive with about 15 minutes left. But if you've ever wondered how two boxers can beat the hell out of each other for 10 rounds, and then hug each other right after the fight, this film goes a long way toward answering that little conundrum. I guess you just have to take this film for what it is, a character study about two nearly washed-up contenders who get another shot by filling in on an undercard fight.
Also starring Woody Harrelson (last seen in "Now You See Me"), Antonio Banderas (last seen in "Four Rooms"), Lolita Davidovich (last seen in "Cobb"), Lucy Liu (last seen in "True Crime"), Tom Sizemore (last seen in "Get Carter"), Robert Wagner (last seen in "Midway"), Richard Masur (last seen in "Heaven's Gate"), Willie Garson, Jack Carter, Eloy Casados (also last seen in "Cobb"), with cameos from Aida Turturro (last seen in "Angie"), Mike Tyson (last seen in "Grudge Match"), Michael Buffer (ditto), George Foreman, Kevin Costner, James Woods (last seen in "Jobs"), Drew Carey, Jennifer Tilly, Tony Curtis (last seen in "The Great Race"), Steve Lawrence, Rod Stewart, Steve Schirripa (last seen in "Must Love Dogs").
RATING: 4 out of 10 cornermen
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