Rocky
Balboa never had to worry about social media—at least not until the Creed films. Lucky him. A viral video
will earn Ty Matthews a shot at the title, but it will also set in motion his
downfall in Matthew Berkowitz’s A Violent
Man (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2018 Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema.
One
fateful day, undisputed MMA champ Marco Reign and his manager Benjamin Green
dropped by Pete Mack’s gym for a little tune-up sparring. Mack put him in with
his top fighter, Matthews, whom Reign totally disrespects, until he is forced
to tap-out. Granted, it was a bit of a fluky hold, but the bookies still would
have had to pay out if it had been a real fight. Of course, it was pretty
darned real to Matthews, who definitely sees this as an opportunity. That is
why he reaches out to sports journalist Victoria Mata, despite signing Green’s
NDA.
Things
really start to change for Matthews after his sparring partner posts the video
of his sparring match with Reign. Naturally, it goes viral immediately. Too bad
Mata can’t write about it, because she was murdered the previous night, after
sleeping with Matthews. It gets super-awkward when the cops start picking apart
the alibi his suspicious girlfriend reluctantly provided. On the plus side, Green
gives him the title fight he was hoping for, because its potential pay-per-view
revenue is just too lucrative to pass up.
It
has to be said: Matthews is bizarrely disinterested in who really committed the
murder the cops are trying to pin on him. At least pay lip-service to “trying
to find the real killers,” like O.J., especially since he isn’t actually guilty,
unlike O.J. Granted, he is training for a big fight, but possibly getting framed
for murder is also pretty important.
Frankly,
Violent Man is a weird balance of gritty
indie film and straight-to-DVD MMA potboiler elements. Representing the indie
side are Isaach De Bankolé and Bruce Davison, both quite solid as Mack and
Green, respectively. However, there is no getting around the current B-movie
status of Denise Richards and Chuck Liddell (who will next be seen in a Timothy
Woodward Jr. train wreck), who are credible enough providing the temptation and
meatheaded rivalry as Mata and Reign. It is like Thomas Q. Jones’s Matthews is
stuck in between either pole and could go either way.
This
could really scare people off, but it should be noted minor unreality TV celebrity
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino makes a brief appearance as a dude who gets beat
fifty shades of black-and-blue by Matthews, which is one of the few things he
does that generates viewer sympathy.
Berkowitz
falls a little short, but he deserves credit for reaching. The big title bout
is particularly distinctive, because the tone is almost the complete polar
opposite of the stirring standard set by Rocky,
The Karate Kid, and their imitators. Yet, he ultimately neglects the film’s
thriller business to the point of negligence. It is strange watching this film,
because there is some substance here, but it feels like it was deliberately calibrated
to alienate both of its potential audiences and snag middling two-and-a-half
star reviews. Civilians can safely skip it, but the critical brethren should
see it, just to file it away for possible future reference. For hardcore MMA
fans, A Violent Man screens this
Wednesday (8/8), as part of the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema.
