By Emilio Frenk
Director: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Cast: Edgar Ramírez, Robert De Niro, Rubén Blades, Usher Raymond, John Turturro, Ellen Barkin, Ana de Armas, Pedro Pérez and Reg E Cathey.
Rating: Good.
Venezuelan Director Jonathan Jakubowicz makes his internatiional debut with “Hands of Stone” and the result could have been much better.
Based on real life events, “Hands of Stone” tells the story of Roberto “Cholo” Durán (Edgar Ramírez) one of the finest and greatest fighters in the history of boxing and Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) who eventually will manage him after witnessing one of Duran´s fights atMadison Square Garden in New York City.
At the beginning Roberto doesn´t want Ray Arcel´s help because of his hatred against americans and arrogance; but later he accepts the help of the veteran manager, which eventually lands to a heavyweight championship against Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond), making this one of the most memorable fights in the history of the sport.
The idea of “Hands of Stone” I think it was a good idea and the performance by Robert De Niro as Ray Arcell never has been better. The editing of the film plays a key role due to the genre of the film and I the use of quick match and shorts cuts worked at all levels, as well as the rythym and pace of the edit, which are essential in sports movies.
There are parts that it needed more work and this is were the movie has a lot of problems. One of the major problems was the screenplay, which added to much backstory about when the americans took the Panama Canal and it didn´t work. I think Jakubowicz should have had more focus on Robert Durán, who never had an emotional change until the second act of the film.
I felt the movie was to much on politics and the excesive use of flashbacks was one thing that bothered me and there not necesarry for a movie of this genre. The reason why movies like “Rocky” and “Raging Bull” became iconic boxing movies was because the narrative was linear from beginning to end.
Were the movie begin to gets better is in the Midpoint of the Second Act to the end, except for one part of Act 3 that could have been taken out and make the movie with a length more interesting.
So far this has been the best performance I´ve seen of Edgar Ramírez, who worked previously with De Niro in David O. Russell´s “Joy” which was released last year. Although they are moments that he overacts in the film but still he did a good job and let´s hope he gets better and doesn´t make movies like “Point Break”, again another movie that was not meant to be a remake.
I give “Hands of Stone” a slightly recommendation due to the elements that I mentioned previously and I insist that is a movie that could have been worked better in terms of Screenplay where it has it´s major flaws.