Hands of Stone (2016)

Truly Dreadful Film

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

In 1971, manager Carlos Eleta (Rubén Blades) introduces his fighter Roberto Durán (Edgar Ramírez) to legendary trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro). The anti-American Durán rejects Arcel at first. He grew up hating America over the Panama canal and being abandoned by his American soldier father. Plomo is his street level trainer and Chaflan is his outlandish friend. He chases after beautiful Felicidad Iglesias (Ana de Armas) and marries her. Arcel had been forced to retire by mobster Frankie Carbo (John Turturro) and is longtime married to Stephanie (Ellen Barkin). Durán's nemesis becomes American darling Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond). He gets Sugar Ray by insulting his wife Juanita (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) before the first fight. However, he is out of shape for the second fight which ends in "No más".This is no jab at De Niro but the movie would be fine with less Arcel. This must be Durán's movie and it must be about "No más". We're given a formulaic portrait of a brash, arrogant, troubled Durán. Most of Arcel's story could be cut out. "No más" remains a mystery. He does give an explanation to his wife but continues to have conflicting narrative. This needs a tighter script which could zoom in on the most important aspect of Durán's journey.

I saw this at home on DVD from my public library. This is not my wife's type of movie so she skipped. My dad was a big fan of 'boxing', when I was a kid he even listened to some fights on the radio at night. But the purists don't call it 'boxing', no it is 'fighting', as in "Prize Fighting." I've never been a fan, but I do enjoy seeing a good biography.Many consider Roberto Duran the greatest champion of all time, but that debate will never end. He had a 34-year career, starting as a professional at age 16. The story here starts where he grew up in Panama, when he was nearing 20. Panama itself was against the USA occupation but the Panama Canal was at stake. Duran grew up in poverty, and grew up fighting for what he needed. Basically a street brawler, which naturally took him into fighting in the ring as a way to make money.He wanted to be world champion so he went to New York to look up famed trainer Ray Arcel, who at first didn't want to have anything to do with him. However he recognized Duran's innate ability and knew, if he could get Duran to focus and develop a fight strategy, instead of just brawling, he could beat anyone. Much of the 'boxing' part of the movie focuses on his bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard, at first bitter adversaries but later in life friends. Edgar Ramírez is excellent as Roberto Durán, so is Robert De Niro as Ray Arcel, and the singer Usher Raymond as Sugar Ray Leonard. Excellent movie. As an aside De Niro's real life daughter has a role as Arcel's daughter.

The film never recovers from my reluctance to accept the actor in the title role as Roberto Duran. The genuine boxer was a small, skinny rat-like character in his early lightweight days. However, the actor is tall, strapping, chisel-jawed and above all far too clean-cut to pull off the sinister Duran persona. I also do not buy the 'pretty boy' Sugar Ray Leonard character because 1) the actor looks like he's about forty years-old and 2) he's not good-looking. I wanted to see filth, poverty, violence in Duran's early days because this is what I've heard his background is, but where was the grit? the pain?Nobody else is going to make a film about this legendary boxer so we are stuck with this disappointing effort.

'HANDS OF STONE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A sports biopic, based on the life of professional boxing legend Roberto Duran. The film stars Edgar Ramirez, Robert De Niro, Ana de Armas, Usher Raymond IV, Ellen Barkin and Ruben Blades. It was written and directed by Venezuelan filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz (in his English-language film debut). The movie has received mixed reviews from critics, and it's been a bomb at the Box Office. I think it's a decent boxing film, and biopic, but nothing spectacular. The story focuses on the relationship between professional boxer Roberto Duran (Ramirez), and his trainer (who's equally legendary) Ray Parcel (De Niro). The two had a troubled relationship (at times), but one that equally involved a lot of respect; and both men learned a lot from each other. The movie begins with Parcel discovering Duran, in an early fight, it then goes to flashbacks of Duran growing up in Panama. The film also focuses on Duran's relationships with his estranged father (Eliud Kauffman), his wife Felicidad Iglesias (Armas), and legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard (Raymond IV). It also (very dramatically) depicts the two epic fights between Duran and Leonard.The movie is about as slow-paced, and aimless feeling, as most biopics; but it does have it's moments. The fight scenes, between Duran and Leonard, are pretty well done; they're both intense and involving. The performances are mostly decent (especially Ramirez and De Niro), but Duran was not a very likable guy (not according to this movie). It's hard to root for someone like that; but the film does do a pretty good job of showing all the hardships he had to go through (so some of his unpleasantness is understandable).Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFMQ3xbt9g