MOVIE REVIEW - Hands Of Stone

This movie goes into wider release this weekend, and may be worth a look.

This is the story of the very flashy boxer from the late 1970's and 80's, Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez) and his hectic career. Based on a book of the same name, and is written from Duran's point of view.  This is a sympathetic piece towards Duran and attempts to explain the reasons why Duran was the way he was.

This takes us from his very troubled youth in Panama, until basically his famous "no mas" fight with Sugar Ray Leonard.  And then on to his eventual comeback a couple years later. This is an interesting movie that continues in the really nice new trend of sports movies, that uses sport as a backdrop, but tells the story of the man first and sports second.

This also showcases the relationship between Duran and his reluctant trainer Ray Arcel (Robert DeNiro).  There are some really nice aspects to this, but this does have its troubles.  As well as this is filmed, especially the fight scenes, much of this looks like a ton of other boxing movies. There is a formula and they follow it.  Being totally fair, this would be a very nice 30 For 30 on ESPN.  This is a story worth telling, but I'm not so sure there is enough to carve out a 2 hour theatrical presentation.

But there is a bunch of good here. Both Ramirez and DeNiro give great performances. The fight scenes are very well done and authentic.  The supporting cast is fair, and the overall picture is decent.  I won't say this is a opportunity missed, but I will say there just may not be enough there to support this movie in his form.  Seems here we say the same thing a few too many times.

Hands Of Stone.  Nothing really wrong here, just nothing great either.