By George & Josh Bate
It’s a shame that a film bolstering such a stellar cast and anchored by such an inspirational true story proves as unfocused and underdeveloped as it is.
Based on the 2018 documentary of the same name, They Fight follows Walt Manigan (André Holland), a man trying to find his footing in society after being released from prison. While trying to prove to his child’s mother that he is deserving of a second chance, Walt begins volunteering at a local youth gym and slowly falls back in love with the sport of boxing as he coaches a group of teenage boys.
André Holland remains one of the more underappreciated actors working today. The Alabama native may be widely known for his role as Kevin in Moonlight, but he has delivered stellar performance after stellar performance for over a decade now, in projects ranging from The Knick to Selma to Castle Rock to The Dutchman. Few modern actors capture the warmth and nuance of emotion the way Holland does, meaning any project he’s attached to we find ourselves immediately interested in.
Unfortunately, They Fight squanders another superb and deeply emotive turn from Holland. Director and co-writer Sheldon Candis, working from a script he co-wrote with Andrew Renzi, tells a remarkably scattered story unwilling to commit wholeheartedly to any single element. At first, the film compels with its depiction of a troubled man seeking to repair his life after incarceration. The reality of a black man in America given no support as he attempts to reintegrate into society hits harder as journeys like Walt’s are all too commonplace.
Walt fades into the periphery, however, and in his place is Peanut, a teenage boy who joins Slim’s (Wendell Pierce) gym to learn how to box. Played authentically and lovingly like young actor Anthony B. Jenkins, Peanut’s entry in the film comes at the expense of Walt, especially in the second act.
It’s in this second act that They Fight begins to crumble from its failed attempts to juggle too many elements. Holland’s Walt tries to stay sober amidst a resurgence in his back pain. He is also reluctant to reengage in a sport that he fell out of love with during his time in prison. Peanut’s absent father looms over his life and pops in occasionally to ask for money. Quincy (Toussaint Francois Battiste), another boy at the gym, reckons with a mother struggling from a terminal illness. Wendell Pierce’s Slim runs the gym and clearly cares for his community. Samira Wiley plays the mother of Walt’s son and must deliberate whether she wants to allow Walt back into their lives. And, if that’s not enough, the film briskly sets up a rivalry between Quincy and Peanut in its dying moments.
They Fight throws all of these plot strands (and more) into the mix with little connective tissue to tie them together. Making matters worse is that none of these strands are developed in a substantive or meaningful manner, leaving the audience to merely act as a passive observer as we’re pivoted from one half-baked idea to the next. Whether it be Walt’s relationship with Peanut, his relationship with Slim, his attempts to reconnect his family, or any of the other aforementioned narrative threads, the movie doesn’t focus enough on any one of these elements to evoke the intended emotion.
With a runtime hovering around 90 minutes, They Fight feels like the doomed product of overly eager editing and underdeveloped writing. Candis’ film features so many gaps in its story and has so many major developments occur off-screen that one can’t help but think that entire scenes are missing from the final product. From Walt falling back in love with boxing rather abruptly to him reconciling with his family without the audience being privy to what that reconciliation looked like, the film would have benefitted either from a heftier runtime that allowed opportunities for these plot developments on-screen or a tighter screenplay that trimmed away at the overstuffed ideas and honed in on one or two key elements.
VERDICT: 4.5/10
They Fight squanders a powerful, inspiring true story and a stellar, deeply emotive lead performance from André Holland with an unfocused and underdeveloped narrative that poorly juggles far too many disparate elements. Director and co-writer Sheldon Candis’ film errs in overpopulating its lean 90 minute runtime with tons of poorly fleshed out character arcs and threads, an issue made worse by the unusual creative decision to have so many important story developments occur off-screen. With a movie that plays like it’s missing entire scenes from its final product, it is difficult to become fully invested in the characters and care for the trajectories of their stories. If one wishes to experience this remarkable and inspiring true story, they’re better off watching the 2018 documentary of the same name.
