Crowe plays Jem’s brawling, boozing grandfather Jack Slack, whose handiness in a punch-up inspires our hero as a lad, while Winstone is Belcher’s trainer Bill Warr, doling out profanity-laden pep talks from ringside. The issue is all the more glaring since Hookings’s own face appears alongside two of cinema’s roughest and readiest: those belonging to Ray Winstone and Russell Crowe. It is the face of a man who brings a frisbee to the beach. It is a face which says Range Rover Evoque. The physique checks out (notably, Hookings’s father was the late British heavyweight champion David Pearce) but alas, the face does not. But from his designer stubble to his tastefully feathered haircut, Hookings simply isn’t plausible as the hard-bitten 19th-century brawler whose life he has brought to the screen. Written and co-produced by its star, the 33-year-old Welsh actor Matt Hookings, Prizefighter is obviously a valiant labour of love. This is one of a number of problems with this week’s highest profile release, the literary adaptation Where the Crawdads Sing – and it also derails this lower-budget British biopic of the boxer Jem Belcher, who in 1800 became the sport’s youngest ever English champion at 19 years old. And when a leading actor doesn’t credibly pass as the person we’re being asked to take them for, it can cause an entire feature to crumble to bits. Yet while Belcher's feint, move, and hit prove unpredictable to his opponents, the same can't be said for the plot, and for that reason it fails to land any memorable punches.Faces matter in film: always have, always will. But they're well choreographed, and Hookings is believable as the tip-toeing, hard-hitting Belcher - Hookings' real-life father was a boxing champion of some note.
The movie's fight scenes are relentless, bloody, and at times gory. Meanwhile, Winstone is responsible for around 90% of the entire film's cursing - "f-king" being a particular favorite of his character, Bill Warr. Crowe's Jack Slack gruffs and hits his way through the opening 30 minutes, never quite mastering the English West Country accent.
However, even they play up to clichéd caricatures of themselves. The film is given some gravitas by a couple of heavyweights in the shape of Russell Crowe, who plays Belcher's troubled grandfather, and Ray Winstone, who plays the young boxer's weathered trainer. There are even a couple of training montages thrown in for good measure, complete with Belcher - played by Hookings, who also wrote the screenplay - having to catch a fish with his bare hands and being intentionally stung by a river snake. Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher is a classic rags-to-riches, back-to-rags tale, with its central character learning some important life lessons along the way.
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To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weeklyĭespite being based on a true story and set in 19th century England, this British boxing movie follows a well-trodden path seen in countless sporting dramas before it. Characters are regularly shown drinking, with Slack appearing to have an alcohol use disorder. During a debauched party, a topless woman serves drinks. There are several sex scenes, though these are brief and don't contain any nudity. Language includes variants of "f-k," most of which come from Warr. Gambling features heavily, including on cockfighting, which although not graphic may upset some. Warr is forced to cut the eyelid of Belcher's other eye in order to relieve swelling.
During one fight, Belcher has to have his eye popped back into its socket, although this is implied rather than shown. Characters are punched, headbutted, elbowed, and knocked unconscious. The boxing scenes - most of which are bare-knuckle - are brutal and bloody. Although he loses his way - to drink and the company of women - he regains his focus and learns some important lessons along the way. Inspired by his grandfather Jack Slack ( Russell Crowe) and under the guidance of trainer Bill Warr ( Ray Winstone), Jem Belcher (Matt Hookings) boxes his way out of poverty and into Britain's high society. Parents need to know that Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher is a bloody and violent drama about a real-life British boxing champion in the 19th century.
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