Director: Ben Younger
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 117 minutes
Bleed for This (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Having the first page of Google search dedicated to solely your search query with an ambiguous title like: Bleed for This is quite a feat. Usually sports movies are about very known athletes, in this case Mohammed Ali is the first to spring to mind when it comes to boxing. When doing the same search about Vincent Pazienza, it becomes clear that Bleed for This is currently the only movie made about him, and apparently ‘Vinny Paz’ cried manly tears throughout the viewing of the film. So even a manly movie about a manly sport can be an emotional rollercoaster that makes even the manliest of men tear up.
Bleed for This can’t really be spoiled for the fans of boxing, as the movie borders on the minute when it comes to the source material. It’s about a boxer whose parents named: Vincent Pazienza (Miles Teller) a.k.a. ‘Vinny Paz’ –which upon further investigation becomes clear that he changed his name so this was his legal name- or even the ‘Pazmenian Devil’ who is basically on his last bout. Having lost a very important fight, after having boasted to the opponent, he’s kind of washed up. He gets a last chance for a fight, and takes up a major gauntlet. He doesn’t stay in his weight class, but goes up not one, but two weight classes, effectively fighting in a class where he has no experience whatsoever. It would be a very short movie if this would be the end however, so he is victorious. So Vinny Paz and his trainer Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart) go on a trip to celebrate. That’s when all hell breaks loose and the crux of the movie starts. It’s good to have a movie about a ‘lesser’ known boxer that has gone through hell and back and has gotten out on top with the deck stacked against him in a rather grand manner.
Usually when it comes down to sports movies, the biggest part of the movie exist about the controversy over drug abuse, or illegal bets, or how they are set up to fail by people they trust and thus easily cash in on the views as suspense sells. That’s where Bleed for This differs from that formula. The movie is quite long, clocking in a little under two hours, and though the movie isn’t the ‘fastest’ flowing one story wise, it doesn’t mean that it fails to captivate the audience. The producers found a way to make the movie interesting enough with more or less factual correct events which is no small feat.
When it comes to the acting, Bleed for This isn’t a bad movie. Crying from start to finish might be a little overkill, but the acting is solid, in such a manner that the acting isn’t acting, the characters feel like they are who they are acting. They don’t fall out of character, it just works. So the casting agency really did do a good job.
Though the movie isn’t that graphic, with a minimal amount of blood flowing, there are scenes that are really gut wrenchingly painful to watch. So people that are into horror movies like ‘Hostel’ will surely get a rise out of this movie at some point.
Music wise, it has to be said that it doesn’t really captivate the time period in which Vinny Paz was in his prime, it sort of feels out of place. This is mirrored by the fact that there’s some really well done audio work combined with the visual effects.
In the last couple of minutes there’s a visually very strong part that just nails cinematography with the right use of sound, imagery, both current as from archives that just resonates the setting. It’s satisfying to watch over and over again. It’s something that is often done in trailers, but not in actual movies, but really works wonders on this occasion.
Conclusion
If you are a fan of sports movies that are true to their origins and don’t shy away from using the facts as dry and barebones as they may be to convey a story about what the life of a sportsman/sportswoman is about then Bleed for This will surely appeal to you. If you like your sports movies with a surreal undertone of suspense filled to the brim with betrayal and deceit, then this movie won’t interest you.
Bleed for This (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
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