Review: Undisputed

In the end, there’s nothing hiding beneath all the brio.

Undisputed
Photo: Miramax Films

In Walter Hill’s Undisputed, heavyweight champion James “Iceman” Chambers (Ving Rhames) gets six-to-ten for aggravated rape and finds more than his title challenged when he butts heads with Monroe Hutchen (a wasted Wesley Snipes) at a Mojave Desert prison complex. The Iceman, a self-dubbed “big, bad, black motherfucker,” naturally scoffs at his lawyer’s advice (the Johnnie Cochran drone belts “We need to get your black ass out of here and back in the ring!”), making enemies at every turn. It’s only a matter of time before the Iceman’s ego melts but to what effect? Prison is a secular community so the Iceman/Hutchen fight becomes the stuff of rumors. Hutchen, a prison lifer, is shabbily portrayed as some Zen master seemingly content with that rumor. Watching the underrated Hill strain to “keep it real” makes Undisputed a humorous train wreck. What with the rapid-fire editing and incessant Cash Money Millionaires soundtrack, this vigorous, 90-minute exercise could pass for Mike Tyson’s E! True Hollywood Story. In the end, there’s nothing hiding beneath all the brio. To their credit, the cast has fun chomping on the film’s scenery. As Mendy Ripstein, Peter Falk vies for Joe Pesci’s Goodfellas fucks-per-minute record as an aging mafioso with insider connections.

Score: 
 Cast: Wesley Snipes, Ving Rhames, Denis Arndt, Peter Falk, Jon Seda, Fisher Stevens, Wes Studi, Johnny Williams, Dayton Callie  Director: Walter Hill  Screenwriter: David Giler, Walter Hill  Distributor: Miramax Films  Running Time: 90 min  Rating: R  Year: 2002  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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