Pickings were lean at the local Blockbuster so I ended up renting Shadowboxer, a film I had passed up a few times because I thought it was just another Cuba Gooding Jr.action flick ( he has made a few recently) but boy was I wrong.
Shadowboxer stars Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Stephen Dorff. Mirren and Gooding have a strange romantic relationship; strange because Mirren had taken care of Gooding since he was a youngster, and raised him to be his partner as assassins for hire. Their relationship, and why Gooding was a candidate to become an assasin is pretty much explained in the backstory invloving a tragic and violent childhood.
Dorff is a cruel mobster who puts out a contract on his philandering pregnant wife, along with some others who know too much about him. Mirren and Gooding are awarded the contract, but Mirren has a change of heart and cannot kill the pregnant girl. She and Gooding, along with the girl and her newborn child form a curious alternative family and must make big changes in their lives in order to protect their secret from Dorff. But Dorff does learn the truth eventually and to say much more would only ruin the film for potential viewers.
This indie was directed by Lee Daniels, who was also the producer of Monster's Ball. He gets superb performances from Mirren and Gooding and the story will keep you glued to your seat. However, it has some some pretty raw violent scenes as well as some explicit sex so this is not family entertainment. What it is is what I stated in the title of this thread, a neo-noir flick on steroids.
:T :T :T :T
Shadowboxer stars Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Stephen Dorff. Mirren and Gooding have a strange romantic relationship; strange because Mirren had taken care of Gooding since he was a youngster, and raised him to be his partner as assassins for hire. Their relationship, and why Gooding was a candidate to become an assasin is pretty much explained in the backstory invloving a tragic and violent childhood.
Dorff is a cruel mobster who puts out a contract on his philandering pregnant wife, along with some others who know too much about him. Mirren and Gooding are awarded the contract, but Mirren has a change of heart and cannot kill the pregnant girl. She and Gooding, along with the girl and her newborn child form a curious alternative family and must make big changes in their lives in order to protect their secret from Dorff. But Dorff does learn the truth eventually and to say much more would only ruin the film for potential viewers.
This indie was directed by Lee Daniels, who was also the producer of Monster's Ball. He gets superb performances from Mirren and Gooding and the story will keep you glued to your seat. However, it has some some pretty raw violent scenes as well as some explicit sex so this is not family entertainment. What it is is what I stated in the title of this thread, a neo-noir flick on steroids.
:T :T :T :T
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