Undisputed is so unabashedly macho that if it were any more so, it wouldn’t be a movie at all. It would be two large, round objects commonly found on a bull just above its tail but below its belly.
With the manly Walter Hill directing and the super-virile Ving Rhames and Wesley Snipes costarring, the testosterone is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Yet beneath it all, so to speak, is a no-nonsense slice of moviemaking that in its best moments, recalls the work of late action director Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Yard).
Rhames plays James "Iceman" Chambers, a heavyweight boxer who is sent to prison and stripped of his title after being convicted of rape. When Chambers arrives at Sweetwater, a maximum-security prison in the California desert, he is informed another "champ" is among the inmates.
That would be Monroe Hutchen (Snipes), a convicted murderer who for 10 years had been easily defeating all comers in secret boxing matches, often with inmates from other prisons. After several false starts, the two eventually face each other in the ring to see who really is "The Undisputed Champion."
I went into this movie with little or no expectations. All I knew was the basic plot and that Snipes and Rhames were on board. What I got was a movie that is basically a throwback to another era — several eras, in fact. In some ways, it reminds me of a James Cagney prison picture from the 1930s. Cagney would have been great in the Snipes role, but I’m not sure who would have played the champ. But there also is a very late-’60s/early-’70s anti-authority thing happening here. If this movie were made in the ’70s, Charles Bronson definitely would have been Monroe, possibly with Burt Reynolds playing "The Iceman."
In a perfect world, both Snipes and Rhames would have an Oscar apiece and would be able to get work without ever having to play an athlete or a convict, but I think anyone who sees Undisputed will have no problem seeing what drew these actors to this project. This is the way action films are supposed to be — sharply etched stories about real men with real conflicts who get past them somehow. Or don’t. Snipes and Rhames do a superb job and look like they had fun at the same time.
The timeless Peter Falk also looks like he’s having a ball as the aging gangster who has a hand in the whole business.
Director Hill was once considered the savior of the action genre. His films had a sleek violence and a healthy disdain for authority.
There is not much character development here to speak of. You never get to know the main characters that much. But there is a great story, two magnificent lead performances and a tremendous respect for the audience.
What else do you need?
Undisputed
Rated R
Opening tomorrow at area theaters
Three reels out of four
Video Pick The Rookie
Rated G
Available Tuesday
I can just imagine the pitch: "It’s The Natural meets Rocky." Although The Rookie does resemble a hybrid of the aforementioned flicks, it possesses a scruffy charm all its own. Dennis Quaid plays Jim Morris, the real-life Texas high-school teacher and coach whose story inspired The Rookie. When Morris challenges his team to play like they mean it, they agree, but with one condition. If they make it to the state championships, Morris, who was a former major-league pitching prospect, must agree to give his dream one last shot. Quaid, who made a comeback of his own here, is his usual likeable self and really does look like he might have a 90-mph fastball in him.
