BEFORE: Wow, it always seems like there's ONE more boxing movie to watch, do you know what I mean? Only after "Creed II" and this one, I finally don't have one on my list, maybe for the first time. And I've been waiting a couple years for someone to air this film so I can cross it off - only I kept watching the program guide, and it just never turned up. Then the whole streaming thing came along, and I was sure it would turn up on Netflix, and when it didn't I figured it was headed for Hulu, but I didn't see it there, either. That's often a sign that I should check out Amazon Prime, but nope, not until very recently. I spotted it running on IMDB.com, which is now streaming movies that all seem to be somewhat past their prime, and a Google search tells me it's also on Tubi now, which I think is where movies go to die. (Who the hell wants to watch ADS during the movie if they don't have to?)
Maybe it ran on a channel and I missed it - or maybe it's a movie that flew so far under the radar that every channel and streaming service forgot to program it, and now it's too late, because it's running on IMDB for FREE. Now who would pay $3.99 to rent it on Amazon Prime, when it's FREE on another site? But then I noticed that Amazon Prime has a new option - called "Watch Free with Ads". OK, maybe it's worth sitting through a few ads if it means I can watch the film on my giant-screen TV and sit in the comfy recliner, instead of on my small computer and less-comfy desk chair. I'll give this new Amazon option a go...it can't be worse than Tubi, right?
He played a department store manager in "Killers", himself in "Hustlers", and tonight Usher Raymond plays Sugar Ray Leonard, the boxer who (I assume) fought against Duran.
THE PLOT: The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
AFTER: Speaking of Rays, there are a lot of them in this film - trainer Ray Arcel, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, and then there's Ray Charles, who sang the anthem in one of the depicted fights, but was NOT listed in the IMDB credits. So, who played him? I did a little snooping online and learned that they cast a professional Ray Charles impersonator, one who had appeared in the noted "Legends in Concert" shows in Vegas. Makes sense, why go to all the trouble of casting actors to play a famous singer when there's already someone who's got the look and the vocals down? I'm submitting the actor's name to the IMDB for inclusion, but they may not accept it if I don't have direct evidence.
Now I'm starting to see why this movie is available for free from several sources - it's not all flashy like "Creed II" was, and it really wants to get into the technical aspects of boxing, the strategy that was imparted from Ray Arcel to Duran that enabled him to rise to become the world champion in the lightweight division. I've never really dug deep and learned about all the different weight divisions in boxing, like when I was a kid I thought there could be only one World Champion of Boxing, but when you look at the different divisions, based on weight, that fighters have, now it seems like there can be eight world champions at any given time, from flyweight up to heavyweight. Duran started boxing as a lightweight (130-135 lbs.) and he vacated that title in order to bulk up to welterweight (140-147 lbs.), the division in which he fought Sugar Ray Leonard the first time.
When Duran came back after the "No Mas" incident, he fought as a middleweight (154-160 lbs.) and then by the time of the third fight against Sugar Ray, both boxers were up to Super Middleweight (160-168 lbs.). It's very confusing to people outside of the boxing world - like the heavyweight champions have tended to draw the most attention, but there's a whole world of competitors fighting in the other divisions. Do all boxers end up in the heavyweight class eventually, either by building up muscle or getting older and fatter? Or is there just this constant cycle of eating and starving, training and non-training, getting heavier and lighter as needed to move between the divisions for better chances at a title?
But this is what I'm always complaining about where boxing films are concerned - being mostly ignorant (still) regarding how the sport works, what the different technial approaches to the sport are, why and how one fighter outboxes another - or if I'm overthinking it, then please let me KNOW that I'm overthinking it, and that it's just about the physics of fists meeting face, and the endurance (or lack thereof) of each guy getting hit. Most boxing films (the "Rocky"/"Creed" franchise, "Million Dollar Baby", "The Fighter", "Bleed For This", "Southpaw") seem to be more concerned with telling the dramatic story about the great fighter, and not focusing as much on what skills, exactly, make him great. Sure, I get it, when you make a baseball film you don't want to get too much into the finer points of the infield fly rule, it's more about the journey that the team goes through on its way to success. But throw me a bone, maybe, so I understand a little bit more about the sport, OK?
"Hands of Stone" has a TON of details about boxing strategy - Ray Arcel has a lifetime of boxing knowledge to impart on Duran, so I finally get what I've been wishing for, some insight into controlling the pace of the fight, forcing the other boxer to change his game, and throwing the other boxer off by getting into his head. Arcel taking the time to comb Duran's hair in-between the rounds is a great detail - it's just one little technical element that speaks volumes - if Duran's opponent sees him coming back from the break and he looks neat, clean and refreshed, that's all part of the psychological "sweet science". Again, maybe that's why some people didn't like this film, because they don't care about the strategy of the game, they just want a flashy film with two guys beating each other up in the fight scenes.
Or maybe people remember the time when De Niro would have been the BOXER in this film, instead of the trainer, and that just makes them feel old. Suddenly you see 73-year-old De Niro on the sidelines in a boxing scene and you're keenly aware that "Raging Bull" was released almost 40 years ago. Whoof, that sound you hear is my bones creaking...
Then there are the scenes concerning the unrest in Panama - I realize that Duran was from there, and this was a hot topic back in the 1970's and 80's, with debate raging over setting a timetable for the U.S. ceding control of the Canal Zone. But does any of this really belong in a boxing movie, just because it was happening at the time? It seems very less-than-tangential to the main storyline. It reminded me of the subplot from "Striptease" that focused on the plight of migrant farm workers - that's just not what we tuned in to see.
And what's up with boxers giving all of their sons the same first name, which is also THEIR first name? Roberto Duran had like 5 sons, all named Roberto, and didn't George Foreman have 5 or 6 sons, all named George? Is this an ego thing, or did somebody forget to tell boxers that you should give your kids DIFFERENT first names, so you can tell them apart? Or is this because they've been hit in the head too many times, or they're planning for the future when they're too punch-drunk to remember their sons' names?
But I'm getting away from the film here - we get to see the famous "No Mas" moment in the fight between Duran and Leonard, when the referee took Duran's statement as a sign that he was quitting the fight - but Duran later swore that he never said this. Even if he did, it's possible that he was complaining about Leonard jumping and dancing around the ring, and maybe his statement was designed to tell the referee to put an end to this behavior. This famous fight took place in November 1980 in New Orleans, while the first fight between Duran and Leonard was held in Canada, and became known as "The Brawl in Montreal". (I guess nothing good rhymes with "New Orleans"? The "terrible scenes in New Orleans"? Nah.)
I'm reading up on Duran's career now, and it's something of a shame that the film couldn't squeeze in his fights against Marvin Hagler and Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, they seem like they would be great dramatic material - so honestly I think this film ended too early by narrowing the focus to concentrate on his bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard.
Also starring Edgar Ramirez (last seen in "Gold"), Robert De Niro (last seen in "The Irishman"), Rubén Blades (last seen in "The Counselor"), Ana de Armas (last seen in "War Dogs"), Pedro Perez, Oscar Jaenada (last seen in "Snatched"), John Turturro (last seen in "Desperately Seeking Susan"), Ellen Barkin (last seen in "Happy Tears"), Jurnee Smollett-Bell (last seen in "Jack"), Yancey Arias (last seen in "Legion"), Drena De Niro (last seen in "A Star Is Born"), Ilza Ponko, Anthony Molinari (last seen in "Central Intelligence"), Rick Avery (last seen in "Higher Learning"), Robb Skyler, Joe Urla, Eliud Kauffman, Khalid Ghajji, John Duddy, Aaron Zebede, Janelle Davidson, Leo Wiznitzer, Charles Middleton, with a cameo from Reg E. Cathey (as DON KING!) (last seen in "Fantastic Four"), and archive footage of Jimmy Carter (last seen in "Fahrenheit 11/9"), Ronald Reagan (last seen in "Let Me In").
RATING: 6 out of 10 scorecards
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