''Fighting'' is a 2009 American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

directed by

Dito Montiel Orlandito Montiel is an American author, filmmaker, and musician. Early Career & Music Born in New York City, Montiel was active in the early '80s New York hardcore punk scene when he was vocalist for Queens-based Major Conflict. Later, he wou ...

, with a screenplay by Robert Munic and Montiel, and starring

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film '' Step Up''. He gained wider attention for his leading rol ...

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films ''Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles ...

and

Luis Guzmán Luis Guzmán (born August 28, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actor. His career spans over 40 years and includes a number of films and television series. He has appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson films ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Magnolia'' (1999) an ...

. It was released on April 24, 2009 in the United States by

Rogue Pictures Rogue (originally Rogue Pictures) is an American independent production company founded in 1998 by Patrick Gunn and Matt Wall, originally started off as a genre film label of the Universal-affiliated independent film studio October Films and was ...

Plot

Present day

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

: Shawn MacArthur (

) is a street hustler. One day while selling counterfeit goods at the corner of Radio City Music Hall, a group of young men attempt to force Shawn to relocate with his merchandise. These boys work for Harvey Boarden (

), a ticket scalper who controls the corner. Shawn fights them off, but does not retain his money or products. Later, Shawn sees Harvey and the men who stole his money in a cafe and confronts them. Harvey gives him his money back and offers him a chance to a 'winner takes all' fight for money. Harvey sets up a meeting with his friend and rival, Martinez (

). Shawn's first fight is at a Brooklyn church against a Russian. He wins when he knocks the Russian into a water fountain. Harvey takes Shawn to a club where he meets a waitress named Zulay (

Zulay Henao Zulay Henao (born March 22, 1979) is a Colombian-American film and television actress. She has co-starred in a number of films such as '' Illegal Tender'' (2007), '' Fighting'' (2009), ''Takers'' (2010), '' Boy Wonder'' (2011), '' Hostel: Part I ...

), a single mother to whom Shawn had earlier tried to sell a fake Chinese '' Harry Potter'' book. In the VIP area to the club, Shawn also meets Evan Hailey ( Brian White), a professional fighter who used to be on the same college team as Shawn, and was coached by Shawn's father. Shawn and Harvey leave after Evan and Shawn nearly get into a fight. Shawn's second fight is at the back of a store in the Bronx, against a much larger opponent. The fight descends into chaos after interference from some of Harvey's crew when the opponent nearly chokes Shawn, and the woman who owns the store pulls out a gun because one of the guys spills her drink. Harvey, Shawn, and the rest of Harvey's crew flee the scene and neither fighter gets paid. For his third fight, Shawn and the crew go to an Asian owned penthouse. Shawn wins the third fight. Between fights, Shawn meets Zulay a few times, before they eventually have sex. Shawn and Zulay are visited by Harvey and Shawn is furious, suspecting Zulay and Harvey of having sexual relations. Harvey explains that Zulay places bets for him. Shawn and Harvey are offered a fight against Evan, and Shawn accepts, but Harvey wants him to throw the fight so that Martinez and his associates can make money. Shawn agrees to throw the fight. Zulay places the bets, a total of $500,000. Shawn and Evan fight, with Zulay, Harvey, and the rest of the crew watching. Evan has Shawn in a choke hold and it appears that Shawn is about to throw the fight; however, he fights back and overpowers Evan. Shawn beats Evan and Martinez threatens Harvey. At Harvey's apartment, Shawn reveals Zulay reversed the bets and they have one million dollars. Zulay picks up Shawn and Harvey and they leave New York with Zulay's daughter and grandmother.

Cast

as Shawn MacArthur *

as Harvey Boarden *

as Martinez * Brian White as Evan Hailey * Flaco Navaja as Javon Wilkinson / Ray Ray *

Cung Le Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record ...

as Dragon Lee *

as Zulay Velez * Roger Guenveur Smith as Jack Dancing *

Anthony DeSando Anthony DeSando (born December 4, 1965), also known as Anthony Joseph De Santis, is an American actor. DeSando often portrays a joker or dapper villain in mob films such as ''New Jack City''. Early life DeSando was born in Jersey City, New Je ...

as Christopher Anthony *

Danny Mastrogiorgio Danny Mastrogiorgio (born October 26, 1964) is an American actor who has also provided voice work for video games. He is best known for providing the voice of Toni Cipriani in the 2005 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'' and f ...

as Trader Jim * Peter Tambakis as Z * Michael Rivera as Ajax * Dante Nero as Kimo

Production

;Shooting locations * DeKalb Avenue/Washington Park,

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the wes ...

Brooklyn, New York City Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

. * Nassau Street in Manhattan, New York City. * Ramon Aponte Park, W. 47th Street,

Release

Box office and critical reaction

The film opened at #3 at the North American box office making $11 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

in its opening weekend. It scored a mixed "40%" rating according to

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. It has earned itself an average 4.9/10, based on 129 reviews.

Home media

''Fighting'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on August 25, 2009 in North America. The film has shifted over 600,000 copies as reported by www.the-numbers.com. The DVD and Blu-ray includes the theatrical version (105 minutes) and the unrated extended cut (108 minutes). Special features include

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...

s and previews.

References

External links

* * * * {{Dito Montiel 2009 films 2009 action drama films American action drama films American teen films 2000s English-language films American martial arts films Martial arts tournament films Mixed martial arts films Underground fighting films Films directed by Dito Montiel Films scored by Jonathan Elias Relativity Media films Focus Features films Rogue (company) films Films shot in New York City 2009 martial arts films Sports action films 2000s American films