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Fighting

Play trailer Poster for Fighting PG-13 Released Apr 24, 2009 1h 45m Drama Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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40% Tomatometer 129 Reviews 36% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) barely makes a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets of New York. But he has a natural talent for street fighting, which con-man Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) wants to put to good use. Forming an uneasy alliance with Boarden, Shawn becomes top dog in the bare-knuckle-brawl circuit, taking down pro boxers, martial artists and ultimate fighters one by one. Shawn wants out of this dark world, but he faces the fight of his life to get there.
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Fighting

Fighting

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Critics Consensus

Though Fighting has a likable lead performer, and the fight scenes are impressive, the paper-thin plot ultimately unravels.

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Critics Reviews

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Joshua Rothkopf Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 16, 2011 Full Review Perri Nemiroff CinemaBlend Call a movie Fighting, you expect action. Only include shots of Channing Tatum shirtless in the trailer, you expect to see half-naked Tatum. Fighting doesn't deliver either. Rated: 2/5 Aug 14, 2010 Full Review Edward Porter Times (UK) All of this, however, is plainly just a veneer on a solidly generic punch-up movie, and it thus becomes a drag. A more cartoonish approach would probably have been more fun. Rated: 2/5 May 17, 2009 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review The action can hardly hope to make up for every other part of the experience that’s lacking. Rated: 1.5/4 Sep 5, 2023 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins At least there's humor found in desperation and comic relief in the quagmire of hustling. Rated: 5/10 Nov 28, 2020 Full Review Kevin Carr 7M Pictures Yes, both Channing Tatum and Zulay Henao... have careers for their looks alone, and they'd have better careers delivering pizza than delivering dialogue. Rated: 1.5/5 Mar 2, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Andreas H Not Bad but for it's name being Fighting I was expecting something like rocky but the main thing is the plot is not that great fights scenes are okay but the movie in general is just ok the only reason why it would get what it get is because of Channing Tatum Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/16/24 Full Review Audience Member Not a terrible film. Decent acting. Terrance Howard plays a two bit hustler. He stumbles upon a struggling young man Channing Tatum that has a wicked punch. It entices him to set up a fight for money. Tatum takes on a few fights before he meets a childhood wrestling teammate. Emotions go back and forth from things that happened with Tatums father. This ofcourse sets up a epic fight between the once teammates for big money in NYC. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/08/24 Full Review Dan W A very realistic take on how an actual street fight is and what makes it special is Tatum doing scenes with actual street fighters from the hood. But calling a movie "fighting" and having it more of "modeling" material is severely disappointing and ruins it for people. It does have a good realistic approach and it isn't insanely flashy and redicoulsy obnoxious which like I said is great but if you're looking for a movie about fighting, this isn't a great watch, but its alright. If you're looking to see ludcrous ammounts of a stud with his shirt off then this one is a must watch. I wanted to see fighting and not modeling and silly ammounts of body bragging. It has its moments of decent scraps but very few, and its really off putting for what the title of the movie is. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/14/23 Full Review Cameron L Obviously trying to be like Rocky, but the film is intriguingly okay with some of the script being awkward. Surprisingly the fight scenes aren't meat headed Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/21/23 Full Review James S Can't overstate how much I hated this film. The script was so bad. Terence Howard's acting was completely wooden. If I heard one more line like "so that's x thousand dollars, right?" "Yeah, you're gonna make x thousand dollars" I was ready fling my boot at the TV. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/18/23 Full Review charlie l Some terrible characterisation and plot details stop this film from achieving greatness. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Fighting

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) barely makes a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets of New York. But he has a natural talent for street fighting, which con-man Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) wants to put to good use. Forming an uneasy alliance with Boarden, Shawn becomes top dog in the bare-knuckle-brawl circuit, taking down pro boxers, martial artists and ultimate fighters one by one. Shawn wants out of this dark world, but he faces the fight of his life to get there.
Director
Dito Montiel
Producer
Kevin Misher, Lisa Bruce
Screenwriter
Dito Montiel, Robert Munich
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Rogue Pictures, Scion Films, Relativity
Rating
PG-13 (Intense Fight Sequences|Brief Strong Language|Some Sexuality)
Genre
Drama, Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 24, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$23.0M
Runtime
1h 45m
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