That was an excellent one.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

story has potential. But man most of the people in this movie deliver such bad lines and such bad acting its mostly painful. Save your time and watch something else its over 2h. 1h to 1:30 would be more than enough. Hope i save someone from watching this. A mixed blood kid grows up in a tough part of town. A mafia man helps him in his road in boxing. Sounds good right? Nope.Shannen Doherty is terrible, never though she was great but save me from her acting or lack of.Alec Baldwin has a very small part but is bearable. Danny Glover haven't seen him in a while and he did a reasonable job with what they gave him. Mike Tyson well just nice to see him i guess. William DeMeo does not look like a boxer and for me me seemed always kinda off but had a couple moments.

The movie contains a lot of cheesy, stagy acting. The story is choppy and there is excessive use of flashbacks. The movie has an almost amateurish quality to it, as if it was filmed in one take and then quickly edited and put together into one reel. Nevertheless, the movie tells a good story, about a young man struggling to be a success in the mean world populated by a lot of shady people. The movie succeeds in making the audience care about what happens to him. To be a winner he has to overcome numerous obstacles. Of course, the premise is contrived, but that aside, it still succeeds as a story. One leaves the theatre feeling good about the young man and about all he has to go through to achieve redemption. That the story is set in Brooklyn, New York gives it a gritty quality which further strengthens the movie. Although this movie has its flaws, it also has its strong points, and is worth watching.

I knew this movie wasn't going to be a classic before I watched it, so my expectations were low going in. The opening scenes were actually quite promising. I'm a sucker for nostalgia and for the whole plucky underdog made good thing. However, this movie didn't work for me. The plot is thick with the worst kind of tropes. I mean, really thick. I'd love to say it was so bad, it was good... But it really wasn't. I'd skip this one if I were you. Its not rocky and it's not good- fellas. It has a MOTW feel. I believe the main actor also wrote it. I wonder if he funded it too? I can't understand how it would have got made otherwise. There are some good actors in there, but they're under utilised and don't make any impact. There's even a surprise cameo towards the end. I won't spoil it, but it's laughable. By that point, after cliché on top of cliché, the scene just felt self indulgent.

William DeMeo really must be a nice and communicative guy. He produced, wrote and starred in this film (he's the main character: the Anthony Rodriguez guy, the boxer…) and I think he saved it too.I'm saying it because sometimes it's only because of him if some really badly written and really badly acted scenes did not kill the entire story. This is the (long: about two hours) story of a Brooklyn middleweight trying to fight his way through all the difficulties that life and a violent neighborhood put on his path. It's a classic, so don't expect anything original: the plot is catching nonetheless and some very good actors (Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover, William Madsen…) help the film shine and look more real.