What can i say apart from after watching the sequels that were Direct to DVD, i was surprised, I came in expecting Rocky in prison and i got more than that.Although Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames are both Brilliant Actors on there own merits, they were both miscast in this film, Neither come off as convincing Physical fighters, both are better with weapons rather than hand to hand combat.The most character development is in a minor character who has memory problems and can remember many historical fights, and he wants to see one more legendary fight before he passes, although he comes off more as a clone of Micky from Rocky than anything else.The Fight scenes whilst entertaining and well edited lack when compared to later films in the series, they don't hold a shot long enough and cut away during most of the blows obviously showing that they've been faked.Overall a great movie by it's own accord but when compared to it's sequels it's a mediocre film at best, but still a good watch if you're a fan of either of the top billed actors.

A prison drama mixed with ROCKY is the basic premise of this unusual but entertaining little movie, brought to us by Walter Hill, a director with a track record of making "man's man" type films. It's as tough as you'd imagine, set within a men's prison inhabited by grizzled veterans (Wes Studi and a delightfully foul-mouthed Peter Falk), hard-ass guards (the underrated Michael Rooker) and various other familiar faces such as Jon Seda and Fisher Stevens.However, this is merely the backdrop. The thrust of the film lies within the world of boxing, and the story carefully pits two very different fighters against each other. An action film this isn't; it's all about the gradual build-up to a single bout, a win-all/lose-all fight to the finish that means the world for both of the participants. Of the pair, Ving Rhames bags the larger-than-life character, a man who turns out to be little more than a glorified thug; Wesley Snipes gets to be solemn and proud, a real departure from his usual tough guy routines, and he makes the film. I won't spoil the outcome, needless to say it pays off nicely.

Tells the story of a heavyweight champion boxer who ends up in prison for murder.In the end he fights another great boxer and faces a tough challenge.This film was delivered very well and should force its viewers to view this entertaining piece of well done action.This film is done with an outstanding bit of action.This film is emotional in parts and as a very delivered storyline that should entertain most of its audience.This is by no means a masterpiece or flawless but it does have entertaining parts to keep this film a well delivered boxing film. This is reccomendable and is something you should check out its nothing like brilliance but the film is balanced and is viewable and is just well delivered.This film isn't appalling or anywhere near but I wouldn't say this film is exceptional either.Overall I recommend it.

where do you begin? first off, there are so many characters that after a while you just stop giving a damn. they just keep popping up. when they first appear on screen, we get a freeze-frame with their name, crime, etc. in the best of guy ritchie fashion. such "meta-cinematic" devices are totally out of place here, and detract from the movie's overall tone and seriousness.which brings me to the second point: with so many characters, there's an overabundance of dialog. i mean, the movie's supposed to be a boxing/prison movie, yet it's got more lines than "pride and prejudice"! i guess they needed to "spice up" the clichéd and simple, yet always effective underdog-becomes-champ plot. and spice it up they do - with more paper-cut characters and trite, go-nowhere dialog.however, the movie's biggest problem is that it spends infinitely more time depicting the bad guy, than it does our hero wesley. he's got at least 5 times as much screen-time. AT LEAST. the bad guy's obviously directly inspired by tyson, and the movie's further "spiced up" by flashback interviews with the victim and himself. please. just let them beat the sh*t out of each other.i haven't watched the movie until the end, i got too bored. even the fights, while excellently choreographed, seem to require annoying commentary by an inmate in order to be more interesting. if your depiction of boxing ain't interesting enough in and off itself, then you've got a problem, buddy.like i said, i haven't seen the end, but i guess it's not that hard to predict. the good guy wins. which would be okay, if we got a chance to know him.