BLEED FOR THIS – Review

Let’s return to the ring once more for another true life tale of triumph and tragedy all set in the world of the “sweet science”. Almost a year ago movie audiences were cheering on a re-invention of the fiction franchise began by ROCKY with the spin-off CREED. And just a few months ago we watched the rags to riches to rags true tale of Roberto Duran in HANDS OF STONE. Now, or should I say, “…and in this corner”, is the saga of Vinnie Pazienza, a scrappy young fighter from a working class East Coast neighborhood. Ah, but he’s not just fighting other contenders. No, his story mixes the standard sports flick with the “struggling against a devastating medical crisis” drama. It’s a story so incredible that it has to be true (who could make it up?), as Vinnie shows the world that to defy the odds you’ve got to be prepared to BLEED FOR THIS.

The film begins right at the hight of Vinnie Pazienza’s career on the eve of a title bout in Las Vegas circa 1988. Vinnie AKA the “Pazmanian Devil” (Miles Teller) frantically tries to “make-weight” (sweat off the final pounds) as his manager/father Angelo (Ciaran Hinds) and manager/ trainer Lou Duva (Ted Levine) stall at the press conference “weigh in” for the big fight with Roger Mayweather. He barely makes it there before being disqualified. Now anyone else would head back to their suite to rest up for the big bout the next day. Oh no, not Vinnie. After evading his support team, he and his flashy young girlfriend head down to the casino for a full night of drinking and gambling. And somehow he’s victorious a few hours later. After a heated argument over the next big fight, Lou recommends that Vinnie begin raining with Mike Tyson’s former mentor Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart). Rooney battles his own demons (too fond of the “grape”), but he guides Vinnie to defend his title. Then the unthinkable happens. Vinnie and a pal are in a horrific auto accident. He suffers a catastrophic injury, basically a broken neck, and doctors offer him little hope of recovery. He could walk again, but his career is over, or so they say. The healing effort involves outfitting Vinnie with the “halo”, a metal ring literally screwed into his skull that will support his spine. The “Paz” is so frustrated that the frequent visits to local strip clubs provide no pleasure (the same for home visits from the “talent”). Then he discovers the old weight lifting equipment gathering dust in the basement. Hiding from his family and waking up in the pre-dawn hours, he slowly begins to work-out. Eventually he shares his secret with Rooney. As the time for the halo’s removal approaches, Vinnie announces that he will fight again. But if he can climb back into the ring, will anyone want to go up against him and risk putting Vinnie down for the count…forever?

Teller adds another colorful character to his impressive resume with the flamboyant trash-talking bruiser. Vinnie’s a motor-mouthed party animal much of the time, but during the grueling hours of training, Teller shows us a bit of his sadness, that he believes that he deserves the brutal punishment, even as his crew tries to convince him otherwise. After the crash, Teller gives us a much humbler Vinnie, quiet, pensive, finally unsure of his abilities until he endures the ultimate punishment (try not to squirm as the halo is slooowly removed, aarghh!!). With his paunch and bald pate, Eckhart (terrific in the recent SULLY) dives into a rich character role, one far removed from his leading man “square-jawed” leads. His Rooney is a man of few words, but Eckhart lets us in on his smouldering frustrations, perhaps at seeing others reap the rewards of his efforts, seething until the only way to extinguish the fire is with booze. He’s also the nurturing father figure that Vinnie needs, as his own pop, played with loud gusto by Hines, seems to be the conductor of the “Paz” gravy train. But the crash effects him also and Hines shows us a man who realizes that his son is more important than the “flash” and fame. His character is the opposite of his spouse Louise, played with quiet dignity by Katey Sagal in a performance so different from her brassy, bawdy TV roles. She adores her children so much that she banishes herself to a “prayer closet” rather than join her family to watch Vinnie’s televised bouts, her boy’s pain is too much for her.

Director Ben Younger, helming his own screenplay with a story assist from Angelo Pizzo and Pippa Bianco, tells this story with few distracting flourishes and effects, presenting a fairly straight timeline of events and incidents, even giving us title cards (“three months since accident”). He does make some interesting choices with the soundtrack, often taking out the background noise and chatter to let us hear the pounding buzz or the silence happening to Vinnie, whether in the ring or being carting down the hospital hallway. Though his story’s not been told before, much of the film seems too familiar. The family sequences take bits of RAGING BULL and THE FIGHTER, while the training scenes could easily have come from SOUTHPAW and CREED. Speaking of that flick, Vinnie’s bouts have none of the “in your face” energy generated by Ryan Coolger’s innovative in-the-ring camera technique.They’re servicable but not spectacular. And hey, Roberto Duran is a character in two movies this year, as he faces off against Vinnie in the big comeback match. The spine injury subplot gives the film a usnusal twist, but despite the excellent work from Teller and Eckhart, BLEED FOR THIS brings very little to the movie fight game. It scores a few good jabs, but it’s far from a knockout.

3 out of 5