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Shadowboxer

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Shadowboxer (2006)

20%
25%
31%
N/A
N/A
N/A
20 %
Reviews Counted: 55 Fresh: 11  Rotten:44 Average Rating: 4/10
 
Consensus: With random characters and a preposterous plot, this bizarre thriller might leave you with your mouth hanging open in disbelief.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Synopsis: Hardboiled and at times incongruous, Lee Daniels's (MONSTER'S BALL) directorial debut sets out to smash stereotypes with a noirish crime thriller about loyalty, loss, love, and guilt. Cuba Gooding Jr. (MEN OF HONOR) and Helen Mirren (CALENDAR GIRLS) star as Mikey and Rose, a pair of... Hardboiled and at times incongruous, Lee Daniels's (MONSTER'S BALL) directorial debut sets out to smash stereotypes with a noirish crime thriller about loyalty, loss, love, and guilt. Cuba Gooding Jr. (MEN OF HONOR) and Helen Mirren (CALENDAR GIRLS) star as Mikey and Rose, a pair of contract killers. Once stepmother and son, they are now lovers as well as partners, and have decided to do one last job together before Rose leaves the business due to her terminal cancer. Brutal criminal Clayton (Stephen Dorff) has hired them to take care of members of his inner circle--including his pregnant wife, Vickie (Vanessa Ferlito, SPIDER MAN 2)--but when the pair goes to carry out the job, Vickie goes into labor and Rose suffers a crisis of conscience. Rose helps Vickie through the birth and adopts both mother and son, going into hiding and telling Clayton the job was done. The four briefly form a strange kind of family before illness, tragedy, and the past inevitably disturb their tenuous peace. The chemistry between Mirren and Gooding is intense and unforced, forming just one aspect of this great cast that also includes Joseph Gordon Levitt (BRICK) as a doctor who ministers to the criminal element, and Mo'nique as his demanding girlfriend. The film's gorgeous cinematography offsets the high violence quotient, which begins with an early scene involving a pool cue that audiences aren't likely to forget. SHADOWBOXER is a film that interests by virtue of its unusual casting, fast-paced story, and well-shot look. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Cuba Gooding, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Ferlito, Macy Gray, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Director: Lee Daniels
Producer: Tucker Tooley
Composer: Mario Grigorov

DVD Info

Release:

Jul 11, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Commentaries - 1. Director/Actor's Commentary
  • Featurette

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
2.5/4

The raw materials for a gutsy, gritty, fearless, fascinating thriller are here, but they amount to some intriguing individual parts and not a satisfying, cohesive whole.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/26/07
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
Ratings Image
1/4

This cat-and-mouse caper's Swiss cheese plotline is riddled with too many holes to consider this flick as much more than a snuff film.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Kam Williams
Ban the N-Word
Ratings Image
N/A

Despite assembling a talented cast and crew, Daniels is stymied here by a script that takes itself far too seriously.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/01/07
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International
Ratings Image
4/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
2/4

Mirren and Gooding are interesting -- and sexy -- to watch together. Once she leaves the film, the picture loses a bit of its uniqueness.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Evan Henerson
Los Angeles Daily News
Ratings Image
2/5

The script can't quite get a grasp on character depth, yet it also can't quite deliver the cheap thrills such a trashy tale might otherwise provide.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/04/06
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
N/A

"Shadowboxer" is supposed to be concerned with how parents' lifestyles can be passed down to their children, but that is too simplistic here. The film, instead, is more a showcase of naked bodies, gory scenarios and over-the-top performances.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/02/06
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca
Ratings Image
1.5/4

Thumbs down to a movie of such vile and violent temper.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/25/06
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Ratings Image
1/5

It's all so cliched in terms of personalities and full of such unbelievable situations that it's often downright laughable. And not in a good way.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/25/06
Jane Stevenson
Jam! Movies
Ratings Image
2/4

Gosh, it's almost too bad/good to be true.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/25/06
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Ratings Image
1.5/5

There's no glee here, just a handful of glum characters stuck in an unending cycle of sex, violence, and heavy-handed preaching.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/19/06
Brian Clark
Austin Chronicle
Ratings Image
N/A

The one thing I'll say about Shadowboxer is that it's never boring. Of course, I could also say that about stepping on crushed glass.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/07/06
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Ratings Image
N/A

Much of the movie is just too unintentionally goofy to take at face value

Full Review | comment Comment
08/06/06
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times
Ratings Image
D

The title [is] an apt metaphor for the movie, which ultimately bobs and weaves a lot but ends up all empty air.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/05/06
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
08/05/06
Dallas Morning News
Ratings Image
D+

Daniels know his way around making the viewer uncomfortable, but there's a fine line between genuine, pants-tickling eroticism and 'I can't believe I'm watching this surrounded by strangers' soft-core porn.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/04/06
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com
Ratings Image
2.5/5

The casting seems to be an attempt to manufacture interesting characters, instead of depending on the script to do that.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/04/06
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
Ratings Image
1/4

Should you go? Not in public. But with a group of like-minded friends and the DVD, there might be circumstances under which you'd find it hilarious.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/04/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ratings Image
2/4

It ... has an insistently fussy and grandiose production design that mistakes lavish textures, brilliant colors and exotic backdrops for story atmosphere and style.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/04/06
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times
Ratings Image
1/4

I'd sooner sit through 32 hours of Congressional committee testimony about imported yarn than watch Shadowboxer again.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/04/06
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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