Follows the "Boxing Movie" Cliché, But Still A Good Filim

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2016)

Cinderella Man is directed by Ron Howard and stars Russell Crowe as James Braddock, a rags to riches boxer that tries to make a life during the Great Depression. The story follows Braddock, and his wife (Renee Zellweger) as he rises from a very bad boxer, to a very good boxer, and the conflicts that this causes in his marriage, and the ever so hard time known as the Depression.
Ron Howard, the director, is known by many people as Opie Taylor. However, he is also a pretty good, and well known, director in Hollywood. He's directed such movies as The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind (also with Russell Crowe), and even Apollo 13. He's done some pretty good films, and this one lives up to the others. While on the topic of Ron Howard, I might as well mention the directing. The directing in this movie is actually pretty good. During the fight scenes, he films the action pretty well. There aren't an overabundance of cuts, and he used a lot of wide shots when Braddock was in the ring. I was impressed with the directing.
The cinematography was also pretty good. Some people may not like it, because it's dark and dreary, but I liked that quite a bit. It expresses how hard the Depression was, and it symbolizes the people's' lives. Their lives were dark, and nothing seemed to work out. This is also true for the story's protagonist, which leads me into my next positive.
The characters were very likable. I truly understood why James had to fight, and I also understood why his wife, Mae, didn't want him to. She needed him to be able to take care of the family, and he thought he was doing so by fighting. He saw fighting as a way to make money, and she saw it as an easy way to get killed. These characters are a literary device known as a foil; they contrast each other. However, this somewhat reflected on another couple involved with the boxing business, and for those of you who have seen the Rocky films, you know exactly what I'm talking about. James and Mae are a pretty clear image of Rocky and Adrian, which could easily bring the movie down, if not set in such a specific time period as the Depression was.
Speaking of the Rocky films, James' final opponent, Max Baer, reminded me of Ivan Drago, from Rocky IV. Both men were known for killing opponents in the ring, and being very strong, yet the protagonist still insists on fighting them. The last two points could easily be summarized by the "boxing movie" cliché. This cliché is abundant through all boxing films, not just this one. It is easily recognizable in other movies, such as The Fighter, Raging Bull, or Southpaw. This, however, can be excused by the difficulty to differentiate themselves from other boxing films.
So, overall, my main problem with the film is it's obvious cliché, yet I liked almost everything else about the movie. I think Cinderella Man should receive a B, or an 8 out of 10.