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Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Boxing is one of those sports that shows two people beating the hell out of each other with gloves. Boxing was a popular sport in its heyday with Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, and so many others. Debates have gone on for years about who would win if two fighters from different eras were to box. Sometimes, it has been the Ali vs Tyson debate. Ali was graceful and a showman, while Tyson was a freakin pit bull in the ring. There have been many movies about boxing, from Raging Bull to the Rocky films and many others. Boxing is one of those sports that really shows the underdog coming out on top.
The film Undisputed, on the other hand, takes a different route. When the Heavyweight Champion of the World goes to prison for rape and battles it out with the prison’s top boxing champion. Shit does go down, and it is entertaining to watch. George “Ice Man” Chambers (Rhames) is the top-ranked heavyweight boxer and the champ. He is brash, egotistical, and thinks he is untouchable. Chambers’s world comes to a halt when he is accused, prosecuted, and sent to prison for rape. Chambers rolls up into prison, and his celebrity status will get him by. He will rule the prison as no one can challenge him physically. Chambers soon learns and hears talks about Monroe Hutchen (Snipes), the top-ranked prison boxing champ for 10 years running. Shit hits the fan when Chambers confronts the calm Hutchen and slaps him in the lunchroom while yelling he is the only champ. Mob Boss and inmate Ripstein (Falk), sensing a true money-making event, set a prison boxing match between the two men to decide who is the champion of champions. Each man has something to fight for and will go all out to prove they are the better of the two.
Undisputed is one of those films that is meh but has an interesting story. Honestly, thinking about it, it reminded me of when Mike Tyson went to prison for three years for rape. I guess that was the premise of the film. In 1992, Tyson was making a comeback after being defeated by Buster Douglass and on his way to being the number one fighter again. His world stopped when he was prosecuted and sentenced to three years for rape. The film uses that as the jumping point for how the champ ends up in prison, but it is made up after that.
First, I believe that there is a prison system that does boxing for its prisoners. I believe that goes on in America in some states. I could see a person being the prison boxing champ for many years and actually in jail for using his lethal boxing skills. That makes total sense, and I believe that if the circumstances were right, a former world champion and a prison champion could be in the same prison, and shit starts to go off. Now the film goes off a little bit with the mob boss having such influence to set up a boxing match and making more deals with everyone that it looks like a Black Friday special. The film tries to rely on the tension between the two main characters. Chambers being the egotistical, brash fighter who thinks he is above everyone and anything. Monroe, a man sentenced to life in prison with his only solace in making structures out of toothpicks, tries to stay out of trouble, boxes anyone, and is the prison champion. The whole set-up with the prison yard picking sides was meh. Nothing special as many sides with Monroe and want to see Chambers get his ass whipped.
The boxing match was okay and different. It was in a cage and revolved around London Prize Ring Rules. From what I read, London Prize Rings Rules is where each knockdown counts as the end of a round, and the boxer is given only 60 seconds to get up. The film tried to answer the question of whether Tyson and Ali met in the ring. Chambers’s fighting style was like George Foreman and Tyson’s mixed together. He was a power puncher that always presses. Monroe has more of an Ali style that is quick on his feet and uses his speed to get the upper hand. The first two rounds were all Chambers, as he was cocky and used his power and experience outside the ring to get the upper hand and knock down Monroe. That third round was the set-up for Monroe and his comeback. Monroe was getting his ass lit up by Chambers’ uppercut. Monroe looked like he would go down when he dodged the uppercut and lit up Chambers. It sounded like a loud gunshot going off. In the end, Monroe knocked Chambers ass out. Chambers gets released and becomes the “undisputed” champion of the world while denying he lost in prison. Monroe gives his share to his sister. It was a typical boxing movie that was set in prison.
The two main actors did their job. Wesley Snipes as Monroe “Undisputed” Hutchen was okay. He actually didn’t say a lot in this entire film. He let other people speak for him, and it was also nice to see him not using any of his karate abilities. Snipes portrayed Monroe as a man who knew he was never getting out, and he only had to do boxing and make structures. He made him a man who was completely fine with his situation.
Ving Rhames as George “The Iceman” Chambers was what you think a high-profile athlete going to prison would be like. I could completely picture a man of Chambers’s status thinking no prison would rule over him because if anything happened, the news would report on it. Rhames made Chambers entirely unlikable and egotistical that you wanted him to lose.
Undisputed is one of those films with an okay story but a nice little watch if you have time. It’s not the best boxing film in the world, but you can put it on as background sound. I will say that the boxing match is worth a look. Snipes and Rhames do their job with portraying their characters. Even if you watch it, it is not an undisputed boxing film.
