Fighting
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The Story
After seeing Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) throw a few punches in a street fight, small-time NYC hustler Harvey Boarden (Terrance Howard) introduces him to the underground world of street fighting for money with big spenders betting on the action. Fresh from Alabama, Shawn is hungry to make some money and is content to let Harvey manage him and even put him up in his small apartment. A few surprisingly successful fights later, the unlikely pair find themselves beginning to attract serious dough.
Most of the story unfolds away from the fights, as Shawn falls for a pretty waitress (Zulay Henao) and Harvey starts working angles to capitalize on his new fighter. Harvey longs to gain some of the status he lost years earlier to rival criminals like Martinez (Luis Guzman), a man who once broke Harvey’s leg for a loan shark for $100.
All of the new relationships are threatened, though, when Shawn’s refusal to back down comes up against Harvey’s instinct to go for a big score on the night of a showdown fight with one of Shawn’s fiercest rivals.
Content Issues
Regular harsh language includes many uses of the s-word, especially, along with uses of God’s name for swearing. Every bout is fought until one fighter is unconscious. For all the bare-fisted pummeling and sleeper-holds, though, there is surprisingly little blood or obvious damage or broken spines. Sexual content includes several revealingly dressed women, as well as an extended scene in which Shawn and his girlfriend begin to have sex. He is seen with his shirt off in bed afterward.
Worldview Talking Points
“Fighting” is very much a naturalistic, low-budget, grittier “Rocky”-style genre picture, but it is somewhat artfully made and features good performances from the talented Terrance Howard, as well as the up-and-comer Channing Tatum. Teens who have seen Mr. Tatum in the “Step Up” films or “She’s the Man” might be curious, in spite of the more violent nature of this film.
It’s another movie that gets us rooting for a couple of likable, down-on-their-luck criminals. Both are outwardly sweet-natured guys—especially in their setting—and the film’s worldview is that their success flows from believing in themselves more often than not.
We challenged the film’s idea of success, to a point, in our review for students at PlanetWisdom.com. Some of the discussion questions below might provide helpful teachable moments if you and/or your teen have seen the movie.
- Did you like the fight scenes in “Fighting”? Why or why not?
- Do you think it was realistic that nobody got hurt worse than they seemed to during those fights?
- How dangerous do you think it would really be to participate in underground, no-rules fights like these?
- Was the story and acting better or worse than you expected? Were you surprised by how gritty the filmmaking was?
- When the movie was over, who had succeeded? How did they get there? What made their success possible?
- Do you think any of the ways that Harvey and Shawn made money in this story were legal? Does that matter?
- What makes someone good? Can a person be called good if he makes his living off illegal activities and/or stealing from people who are also criminals?
- Partly, the movie seems to reward especially Shawn’s confidence in himself. Does it really make sense to “believe in yourself” if you’re also a criminal?
- If you succeed as a criminal—and make lots and lots of money and win all of your fights—could you really say that you’ve succeeded in something that matters in life?
- If not, how would you define success?
- Which is a better question: “Am I getting what I want out of life?” or “Is God getting what He wants out of me?”
- If you could actually achieve one or the other, which do you honestly think would make you happier? Why?
- How is the world’s kind of wisdom that tells us to go for whatever we want out of life different from God’s kind of wisdom? (See James 3:17-18.)
