Fighting

PG-13

Released Apr 24, 2009

1h 45m

Drama

Action

List

39%

Tomatometer

130 Reviews

36%

Audience Score

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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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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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

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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

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Dito Montiel

Director

Channing Tatum

Shawn MacArthur

Terrence Howard

Harvey Boarden

Zulay Henao

Zulay Velez

Luis Guzmán

Martinez

Roger Guenveur Smith

Jack Dancing

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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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