Resurrecting the ChampReview by Brandon Fibbs |
posted 8/24/2007
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Erik Kernan (Josh Hartnett) is a sports reporter for the Denver Times whose work, while solid, is uninspiring and tame—bland copy lacking the punch of truly great journalism. When Erik asks his boss Metz (Alan Alda) why he continues to cover second-rate boxing matches and high school games and not professional events, Metz tells him, "I forget your pieces while I'm reading them. A lot of typing, not much writing."
For Erik, the problem is more than just wanting to make it to the big leagues. His late father was a beloved sports reporter on the radio, and no matter what Erik does, he can never seem to live up to his father's legacy or get out from beneath his shadow. To make matters worse, he has been the same sort of husband and father as he has been a reporter. Separated from him wife, Joyce (Kathryn Morris) and son, Teddy (Dakota Goyo), Erik sees the most important things in life slipping from his grasp.
Josh Hartnett as sportswriter Erik Kernan, Alan Alda as his editor
His big break arrives at the most inauspicious of moments. While leaving one fight in the ring, he encounters another on the street, where several teenaged hoodlums are beating an old homeless man they refer to as "Champ" (Samuel L. Jackson). After they scatter, Champ tells Erik in a grizzled, high-pitched voice that the nickname is from a previous life when he was the successful professional boxer, Bob Satterfield. Erik is intrigued that this ragamuffin of a man on the ground in front of him was once a sports giant, long believed dead.
Captivated, Erik smells an incredible story. Bypassing his editor, he pitches the story to the paper's Sunday magazine where it will get him the most visibility. The magazine likes the idea and Erik begins spending lots of time with Champ, discussing his history over beers and a tape recorder. While there is no doubt that Erik is using Champ to further his own career, the two men become comfortable with each other, perhaps even friends. While Erik hopes the story will be his ticket out of pedestrian assignments, the Champ sees an opportunity to feel the warmth of fame one last time.
Erik's instincts prove dead on. When the story runs, it catapults his career into the stratosphere. There is talk of a Pulitzer. Showtime comes calling. Erik is on top of the world. But unfortunately, everything he wrote was a lie. And soon, everything he has worked so hard to build lies in tatters.
Erik meets a homeless man (Samuel L. Jackson) who may be a former boxing star
Like a good boxer dodging a punch, the second half of Resurrecting the Champ bobs and weaves, going in a completely different direction than the opening rounds would seem to indicate. Evoking 2003's Shattered Glass or the more recent scandal involving the partially-fabricated memoir A Million Little Pieces, the film becomes a morality play about the tension between fathers and sons, the lengths to which we will go for approval, the infinitesimal ethical compromises that lead to cataclysmic life collapses, and the redemptive power of forgiveness.
Based on a 1997 article by J.R. Moehringer, Resurrecting the Champ is directed by Rod Lurie, the former film critic turned director who wrote and helmed 2000's exceptional political thriller, The Contender. Lurie is fascinated by the repercussions of our ethical decision-making, the tenuous state of personal honor in the modern world, and the often exactingly high price demanded of integrity—and he explores those issues again here.
The Champ has some moves that are convincing
Resurrecting the Champ is a strong, competent, assured film. If it has faults, it is an overly long running time and occasional lethargic pacing. Lurie brings no pizzazz to his direction, almost as if he prefers that the camera go completely unrecognized. While competent, it is, regrettably, uninspired. For some, Resurrecting the Champ may play like Erik's writing — solid, but tame. For others, it will be an exercise in blessed restraint, refreshingly relying on substance over style.
While Josh Hartnett is a genuinely underrated, underappreciated actor who gives a strong performance as the ethically embattled Erik, much will and should be made of Jackson's performance as Champ. Known for his tough guy roles, here Jackson's persona melts into a meek and beaten down man with a bedraggled face weathered by years on the street. Though old, he still moves like a man in the ring—nimble and light on his feat, switching his balance this way and that as if the dance of the ring is the only way he knows how to move. Don't be surprised if Jackson's name is bandied about come Oscar time.
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