No Mercy

An up-and-coming young boxer must overcome a terrible tragedy if he is to get his life and career back on track.

The feature begins with a title card announcing that a filmmaker decided to make a documentary about his best friend Reece Mercy (Findlay) becoming one of Britain's finest boxers. The filmmakers name is Georgie (Obrien) and he films Reece as he goes through a dramatic and challenging journey that involves hard training, losing his beloved father (Lamb), falling into his deep personal abyss, isolating himself from those who care about him and finding the strength and support in order to get back up and pursue his goals.

Although this is a work of fiction it was filmed as a documentary and quite convincingly too. The structure resembles that of a drama, beginning with Reece accepting a match against a well-established fighter, doing an interview for a TV channel, celebrating, his father passing away, Reece going downhill and Georgie collaborating with Reece's partner Vicky (Froud), his estranged mother (Sharon Lawrence) and a former boxer with the intention of helping Reece bounce back and prepare for the fight that can elevate his career to another level. It is quite the rollercoaster of a story with plenty of drama and as is usually the case in sports films, there is a training montage.

The screenplay effectively explores Reece's life, initially a happy athlete who faces major challenges battling his demons following the loss of his father. The strong bond he has with his father stands out. His dad is a former boxing champion who is proud of his son following in his footsteps and trains him and the pain that Reece goes through after he loses him is heartbreaking.

The rich soundtrack adds big value to the feature, thanks to Don Lawson's dramatic score and songs by The Siege, Brandyn Burnette, White Katana and King Monty.

This is a boxing story. It is a story about falling down and getting back up and through a young boxer it explores the devastating effects of losing a loved one and the importance of support, unity and not pushing away those who are willing to help. This hour-long experience should be appealing not just to boxing fans, but to those who appreciate a film about having dreams, dealing with loss and finding the inner strength to carry on.