On B List of Movie Reviews
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The Boxer (1997)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
10/11, 2/22, 3/23
10/11:
I guess it's a cardinal rule in Hollywood that, to be taken seriously, one must play a boxer.
This is what Daniel Day-Lewis did in *drum roll* The Boxer. And why? Now, the real question is: did he succeed?
Well, Daniel Day-Lewis does well in what he can do, and it's a decent performance. Yet I don't feel what he did is in the same
league as My Left Foot and
The Last of the Mohicans. After appearing in The Boxer, Daniel
Day-Lewis won't do a film again the next five years.
On the other hand, the whole IRA crap kills the whole thing for me because I just don't care. Even worse is the somewhat weak
chemistry between Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson. At least, the rest of the supporting cast makes up for it; they're
all very good.
I remember seeing The Boxer in 1997 and thinking of it an unremarkable picture. My sentiment still rings true
now. In fact, I have no idea what crime Danny Flynn served fourteen years for. Sometimes, I view it as
Blown Away
all over again with Daniel Day-Lewis and Gerard McSorley for Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively, minus the bombs.
All in all, The Boxer is only watchable for Daniel Day-Lewis, but it's not a "wow" performance by any stretch.
2/22:
You got to love Daniel Day-Lewis in a serious drama role.
The Boxer doesn't disappoint the least bit. In fact, it finally holds up very well after all these years. What I
like is the IRA backstory serving as the political force to keep two lovers apart yet they refuse to be. It's also unpredictable,
and I didn't see the ending coming. In reality, Harry was a liability, and had he stayed alive, the direction of the IRA's
mission would've gone the wrong way.
The supporting cast is excellent: Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, and Gerard McSorley. They make the film possible.
Of course, there's no The Boxer without Daniel Day-Lewis. It's his quiet intensity that's effective.
He has a great line: "I'm not a killer, Maggie, but this place makes me want to kill." Well, I don't blame him.
The word is that Daniel Day-Lewis trained like a boxer for three years, and it shows in the film. Jim Sheridan
first conceived the idea of a biopic about Barry McGuigan (the world flyweight champion from Ireland) but decided to go
in a different route that loosely mirrored his story with an added twist. Yet the real-life boxer stayed on to train
the actor and thought highly of his talent which was good enough to contend with any top ten middleweight boxer in the world.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think Danny Flynn stopped fighting because the white spectators wanted him to
kill a black man. The ref had been mindful of their intentions, hence his insistence to keep the match going
despite the black fighter looking totally finished. If that's not the case at all, then it's about honor in the ring.
All in all, The Boxer shows why Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the finest actors ever.
3/23:
Daniel Day-Lewis is the best at what he does: turn a seemingly small role into a powerhouse performance.
The bleak panorama of boxing and politics in Northern Ireland is brilliant. Two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges'
cinematography has a lot to do with it. At first, The Boxer appears to be a boxing movie with a bit of politics,
but as time goes on, it's transformed into a love story with lots of political forces involved. Having Daniel Day-Lewis
on board goes a long way while the supporting performances are strong.
All in all, fans of Daniel Day-Lewis will love The Boxer.