Heavyweight Film Review

Star rating: 5/5

Writer: Christopher M. Anthony

Director: Christopher M. Anthony

Starring: Jordan Bolger and Nicholas Pinnock

Heavyweight is a sensational, gripping, flawless sports drama.

Sports film is an ambitious subgenre to tackle, such is the history of it, with classics such as Chariots of Fire, Rocky, Raging Bull and Bend it like Beckham, and more recent examples of Air and the Beautiful Game in the list. Heavyweight, written and directed by Christopher M. Anthony may definitely join the canon.

Our main character, Derek Douglas, a boxer, is arriving at the venue for a fight that could make or break his young career. The stakes could not be higher as him and his team (coach, assistant coach and doctor) settle in the dressing room. Tension is thick in the air as Derek is nervous his brother won’t be there on time for the fight, him and his team acutely aware of his underdog status, the media pressing for interviews and the event runners and sponsors pushing for a perfect occasion. In these conditions, the drama unfolds

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Heavyweight is told with the narrative brilliance and adept pace of some of the best films made, recounting the up and down, push and pull pressure of sportsmanship, which in a way is a question of choosing your battles and keeping your focus, with a seamless flow. The film features a stellar cast throughout, with appearances from Jason Isaacs and Siena Guillory, and starring Jordan Bolger and Nicholas Pinnock, who previously worked together in the Steven Knight’s BBC series This Town. Their and the supporting actors' performances are exceptional, the dynamic between them electric. The actors truly relish the emotionally layered yet realistic dialogue and clearly responded to the film’s unerring direction.

Technically, Heavyweight is superb. The use of close ups and moving shots to express the energy within and between the characters is a pleasure to see, and the cinematography which paints the intimacy of the dressing room does the story full justice too. Meanwhile the sound design is perfectly harnessed to express the quiet, tense candidness of the dressing room in contrast to the stress and noise outside as the fight approaches.

‘Go out there, say thank you’, Derek is told by his coach right before he gets onto the ring. That is what sport is about. Gratitude, for the opportunity and celebration as much as for the challenges and lessons. It is only January, but I have no doubt one of the best films of the year is already here.

In UK Cinemas 23rd January.