contrary to the title , " the boxer " is not another rocky story only this time spliced with some cold hard politics .
it 's actually three movies in one : a political film , a boxing film , and a love story .
all of these work in their own respects and have some pretty decent balancing betwixt the three elements of the story , but somehow it seems kind of cliched and unoriginal .
we 've seen it all before , and we 're just not blown away with it like we should be .
oh well .
it 's
still an excellent irish story .
"
the boxer " of the title is danny flynn ( jim sheridan staple daniel day - lewis ) , an ex - ira member who gets out of a belfast prison after 14 years , and finds out that his troubles are far from over .
first off , the ira is having a small civil war between its leader joe hamill ( brian cox ) , and one of its sub - leaders , harry ( gerard mcsorley ) , both having opposing views on getting many of their members out of jail .
while this is going on , danny and his old drunkard buddie , ike ( ken stott , who played the chief inspector in danny boyle 's " shallow grave " ) , re - open an old gym which allows the two opposing religios sects , protestant and catholics , to work together .
danny not only begins teaching kids how to box , but has stayed in great shape whilst in prison , and is ready to start boxing real people again .
and danny runs into his ex - love , maggie (
" breaking the waves " 's emily watson ) , who has n't seen him since he went in .
they do n't easily start up their romance again because she 's the wife of a prisoner whom she married during danny 's tenure in prison , and also has a son , liam ( ciaran fitzgerald ) , from him , whom liam is hoping will get out soon .
but the two are slowly re - drawn to eachother again , and this begins to complicate things .
the political story is nothing really special but works in itself .
we 've seen it many a time before , but it 's at least interesting , sometimes emotional , and even riveting at times
.
there 's a big riot towards the middle of the film which is frightening in its brutality and honesty .
the boxing story is very minor to the story , but does represent people coming together to fight eachother fairly , and even with good sportsmanship .
there are only a few boxing scenes , but they 're never like " raging bull "
/let's - strip - down - the - sport - to - its - bones brilliant .
they 're more realistic , and instead of bone crunching , we hear the sound of the gloves hitting eachother , which is slightly unerving at times .
and i did n't know daniel day - lewis was in such good shape .
but the backbone of the story is the love one . because these characters are given such horrible circumstances , and since the two leads have such great chemistry together , we really feel for their plight .
as the film goes on , and circumstances get worse and worse , the characters have to make real human decisions , and we can sympathize with them as humans not characters .
this is how you write a love story - take note , hollywood .
these elements are pretty much equally balanced , with each of the parts of the stories working hand - in - hand with eachother .
i loved how each of the different parts of the plot mattered , and sometimes spilled over into the next .
it made sure that we did n't just care for one of them .
i 'm not saying they 're all equally great , because the love story really carries the film , but at least they all work out respectively .
the acting is amazing , with day - lewis and watson giving excellent performances and showing great chemistry .
i 'm not sure if they 're oscar - nominee bound , but
they 're very good .
in the supporting roles , billy cox is greatly sympathetic as the ira leader losing control of his daughter and his workers .
but the film is stolen acting wise by ken stott as ike , who is just a great scene stealer .
the direction and co - writing by jim sheridan ( with the other co - writing credit going to terry george ) is excellent , rounding out the characters well , but not pacing everything greatly .
i noticed that the first half was very leisurely ( yet fascinating ) , but the second half whirls by at a quick pace , and ends much too quickly .
more time could have been spent thinking up the ending , since it does seem quite sloppy .
though " the boxer " is a good film , it never achieves the greatness that it should .
sure , it 's a masterpiece compared to most of the hollywood drivel we usually get , but on it 's own , it just could have been better .
but it still works out , gives us a great love story combined with a political and boxing drama , and features great acting .
even if it could have been better , this'll do .
Output: P