Shadowboxer (2006)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Aging contract killer Rose (Helen Mirren) is a terminally sick with cancer. Her stepson and lover Mikey (Cuba Gooding Jr.) aids her in her line of work, silently dedicated to the woman. During their last joint kill for mafia kingpin Clayton (played ruthlessly by Stephen Dorff) Rose finds herself unable to assassinate his pregnant wife and instead decides to assimilate her into her dysfunctional little household.Stylized with some noirish feel and a touch of European art-house Lee Daniels (of "Precious" fame) debut feature is a mixed bag rather brutally dissected by most critics as a failed adventure into weird and whack. However the general consensus is that Cuba Gooding Jr, Helen Mirren and Stephen Dorff lift the movie, the feeling among the professionals is that this is a failed mixture of styles and forms. Essentially the movie has a fairly standard film structure as an action movie, but the form differentiates itself from the norm, telling stories more with visuals then with dialogues. Here we are also treated with a fairly outlandish duo of leads, which create the ultimate movie taboo couple (mixed race, older woman and young man plus a hint of incest, not to mention we are supposed to sympathise with a pair of seasoned killers-for-hire). Ultimately the experiment does seem to provoke most critics to widespread ire at the audacity, which isn't helped by the amateurish execution of several key scenes of the movie.Verging on pretentious the reaction to this movie can be pretty extreme. Unlike "Drive" the novel take on an action flick moves subtly and uses exquisite movie language, whilst what "Shadowboxer" attempts is derailed by sub-par realisation and excessive experimentation. Despite the potentially groundbreaking script all these fallacies hit too many bad notes, essentially making the watch fascinating, but at the same time irking viewers to point out what's wrong with various scenes, gimmicks and ideas, instead of focusing on the story at hand.

Cuba Gooding Jr and Helen Mirren are hit men lovers who fail to kill a pregnant woman and so take it on the lamb.Good but unremarkable noirish tale isn't worth much beyond being a time killer. Its clear why Mirren took the role which contrasts with her recent award winning ones. What works in the film is that it kind of confounds expectations. Things don't go as planned and the actors are seemingly playing against type. Who ever thought of pairing Cuba Gooding with Mirren should be rewarded since it keeps things interesting from the get go. While I certain think ts worth seeing, I'd wait to run across it on cable

If I had the say over whether children could be in movies there would be no children in movies. Parents must leave there parenting instincts at the door when making these decisions for their children. This movie taught a little boy how to kill. This was a weird movie, Helen Mirren must have been paid millions for doing this stinker. The British will do anything for money. Cuba was good but he's always good and this was not worthy of him. I'm sorry I watched this garbage. I was truly shocked to see Helen and Cuba in this movie. It was tawdry and left a bad feeling with me. I guess I do not want to see that underbelly of the world.

As another reviewer stated, this movie does break rules. But is that enough? And through all the rule-breaking, there still is a core/central storyline that does seem familiar, to say the least. OK so some people will/might be offended by the sexual nature of the movie and or maybe by the violence. Although the latter isn't quite as brutal as some other movie efforts, you might have seen. Why is this special then compared to those movies? The cast plays into that. Who would've imagined, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff and Helen Mirren (although only the latter is a real surprise here). A nice little movie, but apart from the obvious scenes that try to provoke a reaction (especially in America and the moral standards, that are implied by some), this isn't really a movie that I would call a classic! I thought it was OK, but it won't shake up your world ...