Professional boxing has been on the ropes for a while now, but you wouldnt know it.
Hollywood cant seem to throw in the towel.
With the exception of maybe two scenes, youve seen everything in this movie before.
Credit: Seacia Pavao
He seemed to get off on getting his mug pounded into hamburger.
It takes all types, I guess.
Again, we know these types by rote.
Younger, who also wrote the film, knows that hes trafficking in cliches here.
And he doesnt venture to sidestep those cliches.
He steers into them and attempts to artfully rearrange them the best he can.
Hes lucky that he has Teller to help him out.
AsWhiplashshowed, Teller is capable of electrifying intensity.
And he brings that live-wire energy to playing Pazienza.
While his doctors werent sure that Pazienza would ever walk again, he vowed to return to boxing.
It may sound hokey, but it also happens to be true.
These are two men who are written off as washed-up who need one another.
