So Stallone and De Niro are back again to prove that age does not weary them and old people can still hang with all these young hipsters around. Now if only all these young people would stay off their lawns all would be right with the world. And oh yeah, they have a boxing match about a thirty-year old grudge to sort out.
Sylvester Stallone plays Henry "Razor" Sharp and Robert De Niro plays Billy "The Kid" McGuigan. Thirty years ago they were rivals for some boxing belt and they went 1-1 before Henry quit boxing. Since then, Billy has become fixated on the deciding match and never really moved on with his life. In present time, their promoter (played by Kevin Hart) gets them to agree to the deciding match and the rest is history as they go through the inevitable "look how much the world has changed" moments (i.e. being introduced to Mixed Martial Arts and UFC) until their absolutely massive deciding match.
The main problem with this movie is it doesn't try to cast anyone as the villain and this does not work. In all previous fighting movies that I liked (Never Back Down, Rocky) it always had a clear-cut villain. Instead, this movie shows both characters as flawed people who have made mistakes in the past and haven't accepted much responsibility for them (particularly with the super-weak and reactionary female character of Kim Bassinger). But then during the course of the movie it shows them slowly moving on and accepting responsibility for what they have done. As both characters go through their personal journey, you are left without any clear heroes or villains, and as a consequence the final fight feels flat when it should feel like an exciting climax.
Apart from that, this movie just feels very formulaic and lacking in risks. You know the fight is going to be huge and grow through social media (or "virally" if you want to misuse that word). The slap-stick "old-guys still got it" moments are funny but forgettable. How no-one takes them seriously until they start to draw money is foreshadowed and very predictable. Even the last second lapses in judgement by Henry and Billy to create drama are very predictable.
That is not to say Grudge Match is a bad movie. It moves at a decent pace and is entertaining with a good mix of drama and comedy. However, without the writers taking a risk to cast someone as a villain or breaking from familiar plots and tropes, this movie just feels predictable and boring. This is truly average fare at best.
1.5 out of 5 old-timer waffles.
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