Photo credit: Seacia Pavao / Distributor: Open Road Films
by Ryan Rojas/Cinemacy.com
There’s a fire that burns in “Bleed For This,” the latest boxing-story-to-screen movie about boxer Vinny Pazienza, the former World-Champ who suffered what should’ve been not only a career-ending but life-ending car accident and his against-all-odds decision to train to get back in the ring. Vinny’s insane perseverance and dedication to the sport he loved so much also inspired the creative talents in this movie to give their very best, as Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, and director Ben Younger show they are all heart in this inspirational drama that is more than just another formulaic sports movie.
Rhode Island-proud Pazienza (Teller), is seen as the showboat type, as fast on his feet as he is with his mouth. After a few early match successes which Teller embodies with true fighter stamina, he decides to go for his weight class belt, enlisting the help of trainer Kevin Rooney (Eckhart), and shortly thereafter becoming world champ. As he continues to train for the next competition, Pazienza is struck by his biggest blow yet, a head-on car-collision that puts him in critical condition. When he stabilizes, he is given the options of having his spine fused (the safest measure to ensure walking) or having Halo surgery — literally screwing a cage around his head attached to the shoulders, which would allow his spine to fix naturally. Despite the doctor’s concerns and simple human reason, Vinny is convinced that the second option gives him a better chance of returning to boxing, and so he decides to move forward with the risk of Halo surgery.
This underdog training story could have been enough to focus on, but director Ben Younger extends the scope of “Bleed For This” even further to show more of Vinny’s world. The film lives congruent to the world that David O. Russell built with “The Fighter,” similarly giving characters close to the boxing champ their onscreen moments to craft more of a familial drama rather than a personal one. Younger opens up the story to include the relationships between his father Angelo (Ciarán Hinds) and mother Louise (Katey Sagal), but the strongest connection comes from Rooney (Eckhart). Eckhart transforms into a character we’ve never seen, literally, adding weight and a snarling accent to make him nearly unrecognizable. Whereas this connection between boxer and trainer should be perhaps the most intimate in a film like this, other relationships (like the ones with his parents) seem to crowd this space, which, although are fantastic performances, lessen the effect of Vinny’s personal struggle.
“Bleed For This” has a ferocious dedication to these relationships and the actual true-life events, making this movie one to spar with. Younger’s desire to make this more than just a boxing movie and to extract these character relationships gives the film a bit more to play with and more for audiences to connect with. Although, like the success of the seminal boxing movie “Rocky,” one has to wonder what this movie could have been if this was developed as a “Miles Teller vehicle,” perhaps focusing a little more on the grittiness of Vinny’s rehabilitation and his head-on fight with mortality (coincidentally, Teller has both a personal history of car accident injuries, which also showed up in a previous film, “Whiplash”). “Bleed For This” still makes its case for being more than just another boxing movie with its whole team’s dedication and heart.
116 min. “Bleed For This” is rated R for language, sexuality/nudity, and some accident images. Now playing in select cities.
