Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

How sad is this?

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

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A former youth boxing champion has fallen on hard times. When he hits rock bottom he is drawn to the demon drink but the glimmer of hope inside him smoulders and crackles enough to burn off any excess fat, alcohol and personal redundancy. With his inner London estate that he calls home disappearing around him he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: boxing gym owner Ray Winstone, a straight forward good egg and corner man played by Michael Smiley, and sharp and slick promoter, and foil, Ian McShane. Risking his life for a meagre pay day we witness a man fight for a new beginning. Jawbone is very tightly scripted, well balanced and of good length - perfect for repeat viewing. It's also well acted with very little histrionics. The drawbacks are plot progression - it has a well-worn and familiar boxing narrative and it doesn't have quite enough cinematic scale. That said, it is enjoyable and well observed as a modern day British boxing drama.

That's certainly a true UK movie, far, far, far better than the US crap, such as ROCKY series and other SOUTHPAW with happy ending for sissies. This is TRUE life, true f... life. If you are depressed, ready to commit suicide, avoid this so beautiful but AUTHENTIC story about a world in which you are about to be crashed, poisoned, cheated and smashed if you are not lucky and strong enough to survive. Acting, directing, editing are superb. A so moving tale about a garbage world where only the strongest can make it in the end. Struggle, struggle and struggle again, that's the name of the game. Ken Loach could have made it. The social agency scene in the beginning reminded me I DANIEL BAKE. Such a shame that this beautiful little movie won't be released in France. Maybe in DVD only. A real must see.

A former boxer with promise returns to his old stomping ground on the mean streets of London hoping for one last chance of success Stop me if you've heard this one before but .... what you stopped me as soon as I came to this page? Fair enough. JAWBONE is a traditional type of gritty drama of a washed out boxer trying to get his life back on track. If you're expecting the big budget feel good Hollywood factor try somewhere else because this is a gloomy British movie Actually this is maybe a little bit too gloomy. It's got that British independent feel. It's well made where the social realism shines through but it's not a film where you walk out of the cinema clicking your heels. On top of that unlike a lot of boxing films you've seen from ROCKY to RAGING BULL director Thomas Napper ensures that if you're hit with a high velocity fist then it will hurt and cut you One minor complaint is that some people be fooled in to watching a film starring Winstone and McShane and there can't be a single movie in Britain who doesn't love these two legends but the reality is their parts are minor with McShane literally appearing in one walk on scene . Instead it's Johnny Harris as boxer Jimmy and Michael Smiley who carry the film. Smiley in particular is very good but the story is one you've seen before

Take everything you thought you knew about boxing movies ... and forget it.Instead of a movie about someone looking to break into the sport, here is a movie about someone looking to break into Life, having wasted most of theirs. And boxing is all he knows.It is a testament to the skill of the writer and director that, by the time the big fight arrives, you the audience don't have a clue how it will turn out. That by itself is an accomplishment.Speaking of accomplishments, Harris hands us one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen. To re-use a tired cliché, he literally delivers most of his dialog in this film with his eyes.And Winstone may possibly have delivered one of the most subtle and nuanced performances of his career, and makes max use of every second of screen time.You could possibly say it is a modern update of Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Or you could simply call it what it is -- an extraordinary movie.Recommended? Hell, yes.