Overall Rating Awesome: 0% Worth A Look: 28.13% Average: 15.63% Pretty Bad: 50% Total Crap: 6.25% 3 reviews, 14 user ratings

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Undisputed

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by Scott Weinberg

"Equal parts prison flick and boxing drama...for whatever that's worth."

I learned a word in Film Studies. It was "protagonist". Obviously you know what it means, but I'm kind of stunned to notice that two veteran filmmakers (Walter Hill & David Giler) temporarily forgot all about this term while working on their Boxing-in-Prison flick "Undisputed".

Both veterans of many solid flicks (most of the action or sci-fi variety), Hill and Giler seem to have cobbled this concoction together with equal parts Stock Cliche & Headline Plagiarism.

Ving Rhames plays "Iceman" Chambers, a dominant pugilist currently in possession of the title of World Champion. Chambers' life hits a horrible snag when he's accused of sexual assault by a weeping (and highly-televised) young woman. Off to prison goes Chambers, where he finds a boatload of troublemakers, a wizened old mafioso (Peter Falk presents this unwitting parody), and a jailyard boxing champ (the sulky Snipes) with a chip on his shoulder.

Pick any boxing flick under the sun and combine it with any prison movie you've ever seen. There, you've pretty much experienced all that Undisputed has to offer. We're treated to a predictable passal of familiar actors in familiar roles, none of whom are able to crack through such rote material. Rhames and Snipes do what they can with such threadbare characters, but they're undone by a narrative that feels like it used to be (at least) twenty minutes longer.

We're left with two unsympathetic characters given little or no time for development, and then asked to take a side when the big boxing match finally arrives. Everything that precedes the "rousing" finale feels a whole lot like footage excised from an all-star episode of Oz, as edited at random...through a blender.

Too reliant on its already-dated "topicality" (hey, Rhames' character is just like...Mike Tyson!) and listlessly coasting on a laundry list of prison yard plot points, Undisputed is as endlessly familiar as it is ultimately unnecessary.

Dispute that.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=6077&reviewer=128
originally posted: 05/04/04 12:04:03

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User Comments

11/24/09 Albert Valentin Old school boxing in prison. Reminded me of Penitentiary. Good film. 3 stars

2/06/07 AJ Muller Snipes and Rhames are awesome. Walter Hill remains the American King of Kickass. 4 stars

4/23/06 Aldo not Bad 3 stars

8/06/04 Anthony G ving rhames just isnt as scary after being fuked in the ass in pulp fiction 3 stars

11/27/03 John solid -if cast (Snipes and Rhames) had been reversed it would have been brilliant 4 stars

5/12/03 Jack Bourbon Ending has integrity; Snipes is very quiet; a few clihes and annoyances; Good rent flick 4 stars

12/31/02 Jack Sommersby Well-crafted cliche-fest with no surprises. 2 stars

12/25/02 Stevo Not impressed by the characters or fights; bored from beginning to end. 2 stars

9/10/02 Chancey Thunderpants Very disappointing with an "eh..." kind of ending. Ruined the whole fucking movie. 2 stars

9/08/02 Cliché Master A true 4-star yawner if there ever was one. 1 stars

9/08/02 malcolm 'Rocky' + 'Penetintiary' + Mike Tyson; thrilling at times but totally unsurprising 3 stars

9/07/02 Buddha Mediocre at best. I mean, throw in a plot twist somewhere.. please! 3 stars

8/30/02 Melina This movie was so awful and predictable, and the acting was horrible. 1 stars

8/29/02 ajay why did ever scene do that white-flash-to-fade shit? I didn't care who won the fight either 2 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA 23-Aug-2002 (R) UK N/A Australia N/A

Directed by Walter Hill Written by Walter Hill David Giler Cast Ving Rhames Wesley Snipes Peter Falk Michael Rooker Fisher Stevens Wes Studi

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