''Fighting'' is a 2009 American

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

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 woul ...

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

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his Breakthrough role, breakthrough with the sports comedy film ''She's the Man'' (2006) and t ...

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor performing on film and television. He has received a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden ...

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 Paul Thomas Anderson's films ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Magnolia (film), Magn ...

. 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 Matt Wall and Patrick Gunn, 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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

: Shawn MacArthur (

) is a street hustler. One day while selling counterfeit goods at the corner of

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

, 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. Since first appearing in the 2005 independent production ''Film 101'', she has appeared in numerous films and single episodes of television series, as well as ...

), a single mother to whom Shawn had earlier tried to sell a fake Chinese ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' 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

Production

;Shooting locations *

DeKalb Avenue At Fort Greene Park DeKalb Avenue ( , ) is a thoroughfare in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, with the majority of its length in Brooklyn. It runs from Woodward Avenue (Linden Hill Cemetery) in Ridgewood, Queens to Downtown ...

/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 w ...

Brooklyn, New York City Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. * Nassau Street in

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

. * 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: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

in its opening weekend.

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 ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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, and can al ...

s and previews.

References

External links

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