|
|
NOTORIOUS NICK
Director: Aaron Leong Cast: Cody Christian, Elisabeth Röhm, Barry Livingston, Cameron James Matthews, Kevin Pollak, Samuel Evan Horowitz, Erik Jorn Sundquist MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:28 Release Date: 8/6/21 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
|
Review by Mark Dujsik | August 5, 2021 On its face, the story of Nick Newell, an MMA fighter who was born without a left forearm, is an inspiring one. That's about the end of the point of director Aaron Leong's biographical Notorious Nick. It follows the fighter's life and career in rushed, broad strokes, giving us exactly what we expect from any sports movie about an underdog and nothing more. Indeed, the screenplay (written by Josh Campbell, Darrin Reed, and Matthew Stuecken) has its foundation less in biography and more in cliché. Nick (played by Cody Christian for most of the movie) overcomes prejudice and tragedy and uncertainty, yes. With all of that out of the way in the first act or so, most of this story becomes devoted to training for fights, winning fights, training for and winning more fights, fighting a system that doubts him, and predictably training for and participating in the biggest fight of his career until that point. The material about Nick's personal life is so secondary that it mostly becomes an afterthought. Nick becomes involved in wrestling in high school with best friend and fellow professional wrestling fan Abi (Cameron James Matthews). Years later, the friends re-unite, and Abi introduces the world of MMA to Nick, who's a natural. There are some familiar challenges and obstacles. Nick's mother Stacey (Elisabeth Röhm) has financially struggled for most of her life, and she supports and is dreadfully afraid of Nick's new ambition. Abi meets a tragic end, leading to Nick earning an opportunity. Abi is mostly forgotten by the screenplay after that, although it's not as confounding as the sudden disappearance of Nick's absentee father (played by Erik Jorn Sundquist), who shows up for one scene and only appears again amidst close-ups of Nick's biggest supporters, cheering in the audience. Other than those details, the story hurries through training montage after training montage (Barry Livingston plays the coach), fight after fight, and big speech about Nick's legitimacy as a fighter and overcoming struggles after big speech (The mother randomly, awkwardly turns up in one key scene, just to give a speech). Notorious Nick feels a bit patronizing, both in such scenes of speechifying and in its general laziness in framing this story with such straightforward haste. Its final note—that Nick's story is apparently too "unbelievable" and has to be seen to be believed—confirms that feeling. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products
|
(for sports action/violence, and language)
