What a waste of my time!!!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

As a big boxing fan, I find myself more attracted to fight films than I really should be. Please, please leave my favorite sport alone. I'm too much of a loser not to watch. Did he not think to get someone on board who knew something about boxing when he made this (and hired himself as the protagonist). By the way, you are nowhere near 175 pound Light Heavyweight size, you could have made it about a 154 pound fighter and that's still a great division. Why's your opponent sitting in the corner before the fight starts? That doesn't happen. You don't touch gloves then sit in your corner and get a pep talk. You don't get to sit until the end of round 1!Why doesn't your build/ size change when you go from being a non- athlete to a full time boxer? Why did you go from 0 bouts as an amateur straight into the pros? Why was the number 7 spot in the WBC fighting in a bout against a novice from the club circuit? Why do you throw straight arm punches with a really bent arm like a hook? You do know they're different punches right? How is this the fight of the 21st century? It's almost like you really hate boxing so you made a really flawed film to get your own back on the boxing community.

I and a friend watched this movie on a late Friday night in Madrid, Spain. I must say that usually boxing movies bore me to death but my flat mate likes action movies so we settled for this on the internet, and yes surprisingly I found this movie well paced and convincing and very well scripted and acted. That the lead actor also wrote and directed the movie is very commendable. It was a job very well done. The performances of Duncan and Merkerson were exceptional. So, in all, we two men in Madrid on a late Friday night really enjoyed this boxing movie set in the Bronx as we felt it was made with feeling and sensitivity. It will definitely keep my eyes open for Kent Morgans future works.

This movie despite some of the bad reviews and press it's gotten is an exceptionally well made film with a good cast that played their roles well. They had a low budget and a limited amount of time to get this movie done but the movie doesn't show that side to it at all, it had gripping moments that made you edge closer out of your seat. Everyone loves an underdog and this movie was all about the underdog, yet it showed with hard work anything is possible, it's an inspirational movie, the story was great, something you see less of day in and day out, no fancy film effects, just brilliant camera-work, excellent choreography that made everything so realistic, so believable. Everything in this movie had a purpose, everything was for a reason, nothing makes you sit there and think "Why was that there?" everything in your mind has a purpose for the movie, it builds the characters, there were no wasted scenes here. I think with a bigger budget and more time, this movie could have added a lot more, and really shown the world an even more in depth character that would make you wish the movie went on longer than it did.For me, I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, a lot of bad movies have been released lately, and it was nice to see something true to the art come from The Challenger. This movie for me was perfect for what it was, I'm not a critic and I don't rate every movie I ever watch and critique it, but I have taste, and I have a mind that can tell the truth from the bull, and this movie was truthfully refreshing.

It's an Indy film, with a very limited budget and a very limited time. And yet, it shows very little of that in the movie. The cast and crew made a film that's fun, engaging and ultimately well worth the time.The cinematography was excellent. The sound and music great. The fight choreography was solid, exciting and believable. The acting was almost uniformly top notch.The way it was filmed, the choices made, like the laundry mat guy watching TV somehow enhanced the movie in subtle and engaging ways. It's not a perfect movie. The believability for the main story line was thin and the film suffers from some missing pieces. But ultimately, I didn't care and it didn't bother me. I would have liked to see the main character getting kicked out of schools for fighting...it would have established his character and helped to build up some plausibility for later when we had to buy into the idea that he was a natural fighter who progressed so rapidly, that he got to the light heavy weight championship in less than an year.I think the story suffered from too much ambition, but the editing and the choices made helped keep this a solid film with a lot of entertainment value.The mother was amazing. She needed a bigger piece of the movie. There are pieces of the movie that you at first go, "hunh?" but are explained later. It should have been more satisfying when the revelations came in, but that, I think, was a victim of the budget and time. Remember, this is an Indy film. It's done on an extremely limited budget.So, the bottom line for me was that I expected to seem more "warts" in the film. Instead, I saw a well crafted, well edited, well filmed movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.I highly recommend it as it being of better quality than most of what's been in the theaters this year.disclaimer: I'm related to someone who worked on the film, so I'm probably not completely objective here. I'm also not a movie critic. If I enjoy a movie, I give it high marks. In this movie's case, I gave it a 9 because I walked out very happy I'd seen it. At no point in the movie did I fail to stay engaged in it. I took 1 off for the issues I mentioned above. They were too minor in my eyes.