MOVIE REVIEW: They Fight

Images courtesy of Andscape Productions

THEY FIGHT— 3 STARS

They Fight, a fictionalized adaptation of the 2018 boxing documentary of the same name and newly released on Hulu and Disney+, chronicles the true story of a youth boxing program from Washington, D.C. To do so, it enlists a pair of excellent adult actors as its dramatic anchors: Andre Holland, the star of Moonlight and Exhibiting Forgiveness, and Wendell Pierce, the busy TV star from The Wire and Amazon’s Jack Ryan series. Their casting counts as a solid start for director Sheldon Candis (Luv, Baltimore Boys) and the new motion picture participation of the Andscape shingle under the ESPN umbrella, which made this film a reality.

As proven in indie films for over a decade, everything Andre Holland touches immediately acquires a temperament of sensitivity and conflict. His characters are often confronted with psyche-stressing moral choices between right and wrong, where the outcome is always uncertain until external or internal enlightenment, thanks to disguising and wondrous body language and facial performances from Holland. In contrast, Wendell Pierce’s typical manner in his roles is often brusque and honest. He’s a boss who acts like one, plowing through difficulties with hubris and fortitude. His characters rarely lose control, versus Holland’s, who seemingly never have it.

LESSON #1: HAVING AN ESSENTIAL VETERAN PRESENCE— They Fight allows both of those fine actors to bring their performative strengths, mesh them together, and extrude them through the proven course of a sports film. True to winning formulas from sports movies and the sports settings themselves, having “veteran presences” like Holland and Pierce can make all the difference. The two aren’t the competitors doing the bobbing and weaving in between the ropes, but They Fight isn’t successful without them.

Andre Holland plays Walt Madigan, a convict introduced at a parole hearing seeking early release after three years behind bars. In true Holland fashion, the middle-aged man wears the tremendous contrition on his sleeve, citing his longing wish to see his family and surviving son again after losing his 18-year-old son to street crime before his prison bid. He is granted parole and immediately seeks out his former flame, Ketta, played by The Handmaid’s Tale Emmy winner Samira Wiley, to begin those desired amends in Washington and his old coach (Forrest Gump’s Mykelti Williamson in a quick appearance) for a place to stay. 

LESSON #2: GIVING EX-CONS CHANCES AND ACTIVITIES— In his previous life away from dealing drugs, Walt Madigan was a successful boxing coach. Without steady shelter, he gravitates to the Congress Park Recreation Center for their internet services and finds the facility in so-so condition underneath dwindling financial support. There, he meets Wendell Pierce’s Slim, the manager who lives by a pay-it-forward philosophy of fair exchange to grant Walt a couch to sleep on and a broom to push in return. Walt also reconnects with an old friend, Turk (J. Alphonse Nicholson of P-Valley), who gives him a vouched spot on a construction crew job.

While grinding to earn money, staying clean from his previous addictions, and regaining the trust of his friends and loved ones, that boxing itch returns for Walt in They Fight. He and Slim begin to tutor a group of teens and pre-teens to box as a path to give them discipline amid a tough neighborhood and a positive activity to immerse themselves in. Two kids, Peanut and Quincey (Anthony B. Jenkins of The Chi and the debuting Toussaint Francois Battiste), who start unsure of each other, become fast friends and the best pupils of the class. The organizing work at Congress Park gets them entered into regional boxing tournaments, where their unearthed talent shines and leads to trophies.

LESSON #3: ALWAYS FIGHT BACK— Spun differently than “turn the other cheek” or the implored wishes of school administrators thrust to dealing with bullying nowadays, They Fight pushes the lesson of “always fight back.” It’s not said to be a volatile hothead that takes offense to every affront with fists flying, but more as a motivator to not let perceived wrongs and outside influences limit you or hold you back as life moves forward. The strategic battle can then be one of re-instilled confidence and better preparation to not lose, in whatever way, again. Boxing, then, simply becomes an outlet to life’s challenges for the students and the coaches.

By positioning Holland and Pierce as prominently as they do, They Fight covers the formulaic redemption arcs of the adults alongside the formative one of the featured teens. When Andre Holland gets the monologue stump 48 minutes into the movie to tell his character’s semi-mysterious full story, it’s a hell of a moment for the lead actor, and everyone gets out of the way. He speaks on “finding this fight again,” keeping his word, and pushing away his demons before the film kicks off the prerequisite training montage—and spirit-matching musical score from composer Gary Gun and kinetic cinematography by Mark Jeevaratnam—to move fully into its boxing journey.  

LESSON #4: LET THE KIDS TAKE OVER— This small win and transition point would have been the perfect hinge to pass the film to Peanut and Quincey. The two boys have poignant challenges stemming from troubled home lives that are only partially explored. Both Toussaint Francois Battiste and Anthony B. Jenkins make the most of their opportunities to squeeze as much charisma and heft from their key parts as they do sweat in the ring. Matching the source documentary, their story is the positive spotlight new audiences need to see out of They Fight. It’s a shame the balance of emphasis is a little bit tipped away from them, even though Holland and Pierce are semi-generic, yet essential, presences. By the end, the goal of their lift and purpose is to apply it to the boys. 

That said, They Fight is still a worthy and extremely genuine story of athletic and personal inspiration for teens and families of any demographic or walk of life. Like the adults, kids too need chances and activities to bond with each other and good influential figures against the lazy and dominant influences of screens. If it wasn’t for the R-rated (yet warranted) amount of swearing, you could put this film on—alongside the previous documentary on Tubi—in any middle school or junior classroom in the world, and see it impart strongly positive and community-centered examples of healing from trauma and the power of physical proactivity. 

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1412)