Although the average rating for this movie on IMDb so far is even for males and females, the huge disparity in the number of each which has voted indicates that this is clearly a "boys'" movie. After all, it's not just about boxing and prison, it's about boxing IN prison.
The plot is pretty simple: The "Iceman" (Ving Rhames) is the unbeaten heavyweight boxing champion who has been convicted of rape. (Does that sound familiar?) Monroe Hutchens (Wesley Snipes), a former ranked boxer who lost his temper and beat his lady's boyfriend to death 10 years ago, is the unbeaten champion of the maximum security prison in the Mojave Desert to which the Iceman is assigned to serve his sentence - or at least until his expensive lawyers can get him out. Naturally, the two must meet to decide who will be the Undisputed champion. Meanwhile, Mendy Ripstein (Peter Falk), an aficionado of the sweet science and old-time mobster who because of his wife's allergies left Florida - where they know who's who - for California - where they don't - and fell afoul of the tax authorities, plots to make a killing betting on the fight.
You can guess who wins, but that's hardly the point. The enjoyment in the movie comes from its execution, which is stylishly handled by veteran Walter Hill, who moves things along at a fast enough pace that you don't have time to dwell on the prison-movie cliches - this place owes more to "Oz" than to any real prison, I suspect - and the occasional hyperbole. (Was it really necessary to weld the door shut when Monroe is sent to solitary? And do inmates anywhere still bang their cups and do the Big House Chant? Holy Jimmy Cagney.)
Rhames plays his part with plenty of mean mother style and even a little pathos, Snipes is adequate, and Falk is hilarious. Fisher Stevens, playing a very seedy arsonist who acts as Monroe's "manager", leads a solid supporting cast.
Warning: this being a boys' movie, you may find your audience off-putting. When I saw it, the boys jeered whenever the alleged victim appeared on screen to tell her story. She seems quite credible and sympathetic, but of course the Iceman contends she "really wanted it" and made her accusations merely to score, and as he says, "when you can fight, people love you". Well, some people do, and as shown by the case of the fighter on whom Iceman is obviously based, they're willing to give a chance to a man who can fight which they wouldn't give to any ordinary criminal. If this breezy piece of escapism has a point, that would be it.
The plot is pretty simple: The "Iceman" (Ving Rhames) is the unbeaten heavyweight boxing champion who has been convicted of rape. (Does that sound familiar?) Monroe Hutchens (Wesley Snipes), a former ranked boxer who lost his temper and beat his lady's boyfriend to death 10 years ago, is the unbeaten champion of the maximum security prison in the Mojave Desert to which the Iceman is assigned to serve his sentence - or at least until his expensive lawyers can get him out. Naturally, the two must meet to decide who will be the Undisputed champion. Meanwhile, Mendy Ripstein (Peter Falk), an aficionado of the sweet science and old-time mobster who because of his wife's allergies left Florida - where they know who's who - for California - where they don't - and fell afoul of the tax authorities, plots to make a killing betting on the fight.
You can guess who wins, but that's hardly the point. The enjoyment in the movie comes from its execution, which is stylishly handled by veteran Walter Hill, who moves things along at a fast enough pace that you don't have time to dwell on the prison-movie cliches - this place owes more to "Oz" than to any real prison, I suspect - and the occasional hyperbole. (Was it really necessary to weld the door shut when Monroe is sent to solitary? And do inmates anywhere still bang their cups and do the Big House Chant? Holy Jimmy Cagney.)
Rhames plays his part with plenty of mean mother style and even a little pathos, Snipes is adequate, and Falk is hilarious. Fisher Stevens, playing a very seedy arsonist who acts as Monroe's "manager", leads a solid supporting cast.
Warning: this being a boys' movie, you may find your audience off-putting. When I saw it, the boys jeered whenever the alleged victim appeared on screen to tell her story. She seems quite credible and sympathetic, but of course the Iceman contends she "really wanted it" and made her accusations merely to score, and as he says, "when you can fight, people love you". Well, some people do, and as shown by the case of the fighter on whom Iceman is obviously based, they're willing to give a chance to a man who can fight which they wouldn't give to any ordinary criminal. If this breezy piece of escapism has a point, that would be it.