Director-screenwriter Mark Mahon is unable to inject any freshness whatsoever into this highly formulaic genre piece, though he has elicited several good performances.
Comment
12/13/07
Strength and Honor (2007)
7 %
Reviews Counted: 14 Fresh: 1 Rotten:13 Average Rating: 3.6/10
Runtime: 1 min 44 secs
Theatrical Release: 30-11-2007
Synopsis: Set in Cork, Ireland, STRENGTH AND HONOR is a boxing drama with heart. The film stars Michael Madsen as Sean, a young boxer who accidentally causes the death of his friend with a punch that proves fatal. Seven years later, Sean's wife dies of a hereditary heart condition, and he promises his... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Patrick Bergin, Richard Chamberlain
Reviews
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
The script delivers a series of low blows to the intelligence from which auds will never recover.
12/11/07
Top Critic
Not even a contender for the DVD bins, to which it'll be banished before the eight count.
12/08/07
For the most part the film moves along at a nice clip and provides an interesting glimpse inside the endlessly fascinating world of the Travellers.
12/07/07
Under Mark Mahon's by-the-numbers direction, Strength and Honour is a standard soaper that might be helpful to watch when you're suffering from insomnia some night.
12/07/07
There is not a real character to be found, nor a single convincing punch thrown. But I do like the name 'Smasher'.
12/07/07
With a lowered chin, squinted eyes and gravelly voice, Madsen emotes in convulsions, his awkwardly expressed scenes of grief and interactions with his adolescent co-star lingering onscreen uncomfortably too long, as if more time would exhume feeling.
12/07/07
Mr. Madsen fails to elevate this earnest morality tale, written, produced and directed by Mark Mahon, above excessive banality.
12/07/07
Top Critic
The movie follows so resolutely in the footsteps so many many other sporting movies that we're way ahead of the story arc.
12/07/07
Top Critic
In addition to having a lame script, Strength and Honor is saddled with characters that are not to be believed.
12/06/07
Madsen's iffy Irish accent is no more believable than the fights, which look even more staged than the polar bear brawls in The Golden Compass.
12/06/07
1 - 14 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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