Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher  ★★

OH boy, how to stuff up a) a real-life interesting story and b) a boxing movie.

Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher is about  a bareknuckle fighter who ended up becoming the youngest ever world boxing champion only to be partially blinded at the age of 22 and dead eight years later.

Jem Belcher came from a family of British pugilists but also inherited not just their boxing talent and ability to endure pain but unfortunately many of their demons, including penchants for addiction to fame, sex, alcohol and drugs.

The film is written by and stars Matt Hookings as the lead with acting heavyweights Ray Winstone and Russell Crowe also playing key roles.

While Hookings is relatively unknown, his own father was a British heavyweight champion, so there is no doubt he understands boxing as a lifestyle, an art and an industry.

So, with all that behind it, why is the film so bland?

There are several reasons. Firstly, Hookings doesn’t have the on-screen charisma or acting talent yet to successfully portray such a complex character as Belcher. He should have given the role to somebody else.

Secondly, I’m not sure whether it’s a fault of the script, direction or editing or a combination of all three, but the film doesn’t flow, lurching from scene-to-scene and creating gaps in back-story and characterisation as well as continuity.

For example, an hour into the film and we have barely learned much at all about the now adult Jem Belcher. He wins one fight and then suddenly, after a couple of punches thrown in a quick montage, he is now the British champion.

Most importantly, the film has a dual look. The interiors are quite good and well lit. But all the exteriors are lit unusually in a bright, garish manner with very poor computer generated background and crowd effects in some scenes that take you out of the story completely.

As always, Winstone and Crow are good but I suspect there was little cash left in the actual filming budget after their pay packets had been accounted for.