Bullet Points: American Fighter
Recently it feels like Sean Patrick Flanery and myself have become close pals. I’ve probably watched more of his films in the past three months than at any point in my life and while that statement might seem strange to some, action fans will know that it is because he is doing some of his best work at this point in his career. If Born a Fighter was his Rocky then I am hoping American Fighter is somehow his Bloodsport!
Synopsis: Desperate for cash to save his deathly ill mother, college wrestler Ali (George Kosturos, AMERICAN WRESTLER: THE WIZARD) enters the hidden world of underground fighting. Ali shows promise, but he lacks skills, and gets beaten bloody. Duke (Sean Patrick Flanery, THE BOONDOCK SAINTS), a troubled handler, takes pity on the boy and trains him to be a fierce competitor-but is it enough to make Ali a winner? This gritty action tale also stars Tommy Flanagan (“Sons of Anarchy”). via IMDB
- Leaving Iran: Ali Jahani (George Kosturos) is a young man from Iran who was sent to America by his parents to escape the Iran/Iraq War. We pick up his story in 1981 during his first year in college. He’s on the wrestling team after winning state in High School and getting some sort of scholarship. The film is very much about Ali’s attempt at getting his parents out of Iran and to the ‘Land of the Free’.
- Life in America: Life here in the States isn’t the worst for Ali but he still deals everyday with common racism that I’m sure existed back in 1981. Other than the foul language and turned up noses I found it difficult to feel bad for Ali since sorority girl Heidi (Allison Paige) instantly starts hitting on him and makes him the luckiest dude on campus. Sure, he may get insults from all the guys on his wrestling team. Yeah, they treat him differently when they mispronounce his name in class. BUT…Heidi is stonecold fox and you have to take the bad with the good.
- The Cast: Fighting alongside Ali for most of the film is his roommate and best friend Ryan (Bryan Craig). Have you ever had a friend who would do for you what Ryan does in the way of training, earning him money, helping him with his relationship, and eventually getting his ass kicked? I doubt it! We also have Sean Patrick Flanery as Duke. He’s a former fighter who is now just and injured drunk who clearly has some demons. Then we have Tommy Flanagan as McClellen. He’s the fight promoter and the man who stands to make a killing from Ali without ever giving a shit about him.
- Fighting for something: Ali decides after selling everything he owns that in order to get his mother out of Iran he will need to fight for the money. He saves every penny and eventually his friend Ryan (who turned him on to the fighting) joins in and helps save money. With each fight, they get closer and closer to earning enough money to get his sick mother to America but the dangers are getting greater for her and time is short.
- The Young Lion: When it comes to fighting Ali doesn’t have much trouble. He uses his skills as a wrestler and Ryan helps teach him some striking but after every fight we see Duke trying to give him tips. At this point, Ali only cares that he wins and can continue to collect the money but it’s clear that his skills in the ring aren’t good enough to take on the upper echelon of fighters.
- DTA- Don’t trust anybody: No matter how much money you’re making you should always keep one rule in the back of your head: Never trust a fight promoter of an illegal underground fighting operation. It’s a rule that I’ve lived by for the past 37 years and it’s never led me astray. I just wish that Ali had thought of it before agreeing to put up his money in an all-or-nothing fight against a mysterious dude with wolverine muttonchops. It doesn’t end as Ali had hoped and he’s left going back to the proverbial drawing board.
- Finding your inner Yoda: One massive issue I had with the film is how long it takes to get us to the point where Sean Patrick Flanery can flex his acting and fighting muscles. Duke never disappears throughout the film but he sits back for the duration until finally taking up the Obi-wan Kenobi role and training Ali for the big rematch against discount store Logan. American Fighter sticks to the paint by numbers formula that the film had from the start and we get the expected by still nice to see montage of them training. I, for one, find it very hard to complain about not one, but two training montages in a movie. The movie misses the opportunity to give us a little more from Ali about the importance of getting his mother back but at least we get to finally hear more from SPF on his story.
The Verdict: American Fighter continues the long legacy of films that blends early 80’s Iran/Iraq war stories with underground fighting and college romances. You haven’t seen many of those? Well, me neither so this might just be the first. It does it in a way that is entertaining but, at times, too busy. Not enough time is spent with Ali or any one of the stories to really connect with them. Hell, it’s damn near the end of the film before Duke begins training him and it feels very, very rushed. The movie certainly has its charm and it’s good to see Tommy Flanagan and Sean Patrick Flanery in their roles as fight promoter and drunken medic but it lacks the punch in the action column of a Lionheart or Kickboxer that deals with a very similar story. No matter, it’s a flick that will keep you entertained while at the same time lacking that one big knock-out punch.
