I ended up watching this movie with my significant other, because we heard about it from a friend from our Monday Bible Study group. They recommended it because my wife Alex and I have struggled with a similar situation. I've admittedly been around the block when it comes to internet pornography, and at one point my marriage was on the brink because it got out of hand.SPOILERS AHEADThe movie starts showing a boxing scene and switches repeatedly throughout between a man struggling to not watch porn, and fighting a bald scary looking man labeled in the credits as "Demon", trying to show the two situations as similar fights that need to be overcome. The main character, Luke kisses his wife goodbye before trying to make a sandwich, but halfway through applying the mayo he looks at his computer with fear in his eyes knowing he can't possibly resist his natural urges. It goes back to the fight scene, which shows him losing pretty badly to Demon, who I assume is meant to represent the demon of pornographic lusts. Just as he types the word "pornography" into a google search bar, he gets a call from his wife who seems to know exactly what he is doing but Luke lies and says he is just doing household chores. This is a familiar scene to me, on account that more than once my wife has tried calling me when she's not home to check in, only to find me out of breath and acting suspicious. Luke was able to resist his urges for about fifteen minutes as he took out the trash and did some other chores, but eventually gives in and you see a grown 40-50 year old man weeping at his computer screen for being unable to not watch porn. I don't know about most people, but I find it hard to be aroused when crying. At this point in the boxing ring, he is down and almost out and his coach is criticizing him for not going to the gym anymore. This is complimented by a flashback to he and his wife in bed while she asks why he no longer reads his bible or goes to Bible Study. Eventually the movie resolves by him smashing his computer in the driveway as his wife comes home crying and hugging him out of happiness for overcoming his addiction. He wins the fight against Demon and the crowd is congratulatory. There is an outer monologue about how every man has to fight this fight everyday, the good fight for being a better person and resisting your inner nature.Now, as for my personal thoughts on this movie as someone who has struggled with internet pornography, I found it nice to see some representation for a problem that me and several of my friends have dealt with and are dealing with. In today's day and age it's almost impossible not to see a naked woman on every corner, be it in McDonald's advertisements or on Facebook on your phone. When there is an entire database at your fingertips of all the sinful images and videos your heart could desire, it's almost impossible to resist and stay true to what you know is right. That being said, I wasn't a fan of how the movie portrayed porn addicts. Not every person struggling is a 40 year old man crying at his computer, and the way he dealt with it wasn't through prayer or seeking community help, but rather through smashing his computer. This is hardly a solution in today's world where a computer is necessary for work or family. If there is one thing I would change about this movie, it would be the ending. The analogy to a boxing match seemed fitting enough, because it does seem like your inner demons are beating you constantly and sometimes it's impossible to get back in the ring and tackle them again and again, but truly deep down you know it is the right thing to do.

This is probably one of the worst films I have ever seen. First off, the story-line is predictable and not very well written and thought about. But the acting is horrendous. Channing Tatum struggles with his words and mumbles throughout the whole film. It's embarrassing just to watch how hard he struggles to act and often times pauses and says something different than what he was supposed to. The way Tatum's character and his girlfriend in the movie talk is very unbelievable and unconvincing of a real relationship. The acting is worse than a poorly-written school play. The only reason I would give it a 3 stars instead of 1/10 is because it had some adequate fighting scenes. Would not recommend any soul to watch this utter filth of a movie.

I was looking forward to seeing this film for many a reasons. It turns out to be a remake/re-imaging on one of my favorite films of all times: Walter Hill's 1975 film "Hard Times" with the late greats Charles Bronson & James Coburn. But in the end , it nowhere near comes close to duplicating the power of it. It was somewhat disappointing. The fights scenes start out nice. What I mean is the build up to the actual fight are more entertaining! Not a good sign. And then the actual fight scenes are so annoying! The camera moving all around and you really can't see what's going on. I hate when a director does all that moving around stuff. Just hate it. And what's more irritating and perplexing to me is that Channing's Shawn MacArthur character is not really a good fighter!? He can take blows pretty good but that's about it. He really isn't that good. i can't tell if he's a boxer or a wrestler because he tries to do both in some capacity. Even in the 1st fight, he was getting his butt kicked big time by the Russian fighter and he wins only by the default because the Russian hits his head on a water fountain! After seeing that pathetic 1st fight scene, I find it hard to believe that Howard's Harvey would want anything to do with this kid! Let alone set up another fight! But if that didn't happened , then there would be no movie. And any movie that has a somewhat more better fight scene than the so-called final climatic fight scene, is not good at all. I mean the 2nd and especially the 3rd fight, were way more exciting than the final one!? Anyways, I had never really seen this new up-and-coming actor Channing Tatum. So I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about this (new to me) young actor. He was well cast as a young "good-ole-boy" from Alabama.Terrence Howard as second-rate scam artist/hustler Harvey Boarden was okay at best. His delivery was somewhat funny playing him with a slow drawl. He seemed more like a pimp than a scam artist.Pretty Zulay Henao as Zulay Velez was pretty good but she really didn't have much to do but be the love interest to Channing's character. Nice touch in using her real unique name in naming her character. They had some chemistry, so that helped some. Interesting note/trivia is that Zulay was engaged in real life to Terrence Howard! So it's a treat to see their scenes together.The always reliable character actors Luis Guzmán as Howard's rival Martinez and Roger Guenveur Smith as high-roller Jack Dancing, were okay at best.Of the fighters, Brian White as Channing's main rival, Evan Hailey was somewhat a disappointment. White's Hailey was portrayed as a annoying, conceited asshole jerk. I guess this was done on purpose so you could hate the character right away and can't wait for Channin to kick his ass big time. Trouble is that Brian's Evan is not intimidating enough to be viewed as a major threat. He more looks like a singer celebrity than a fighter! And even though Brian is 6'2" to Channing's 6'1", he still looks small next to Channing!? The other two fighters, Big Dante Nero as Kimo & Cung Le as Dragon Le did pretty good in their brief time on screen. Especially Asian fighter Cung Le I liked. Cung really did present a dangerous type of threat to Channing in the 3rd fight. This is what was needed at the end of the film as a climatic fight. Not the weak and no surprise ending of the Channing vs Brian fight.All in all, I don't regret seeing it, but I doubt very much I'll be seeing again any time soon. Too bad, I guess if I wanna go see a fight film, I'll go see my 'Hard Times' for the 100th time then! Ha ha..

This thrilling movie deals with a tight-lipped hunk who is introduced to the world of underground street fierce brawling by a seasoned scam artist, who becomes his manager . In New York City, a young counterfeiter named Shawn McArthur (Channing Tatum) tries to come up with a way to get enough money to live . The desperate young knocks several robbers when they attempt to rob him some goods. After that he comes into contact with street-fight promoter , a hustler named Harvey (Terrence Howard). Shawn teams up with the organizer of no-holds-barred bare-knuckle fights that secretly entertain the wealthy across the streets and slums of N.Y.C. and links Shawn up with Martinez (Luis Guzman). Shawn is soon fighting various contenders -ranging from a Harlem bouncing to an Oriental fighter - earning money to help keep his new sweetheart (Zulay Enao) who comes to love him . Shawn decides that he has something worth brawling for and sets everything on the line to vanquish . Although Shawn only wants to bash opponents long enough to gain enough money to assist his girlfriend, he is reluctant to let tricks in combats on the fighting circuit .Every knock-out brings him closer to the existence he's always wished , but also carries him in a deadly cobweb he can't getaway.The picture contains drama ,thrills , and lots of violent brawls plenty of punch , kicks, and knockouts. Acceptable performance from Channing Tatum as impulsive young becoming a professional street-fighter and battling a variety of contenders , plus Zulay Enao gives a surprisingly good acting as his gorgeous love interest and special mention to Terrence Howard as the sharpster who arranges his bare-knuckled bouts . The picture belongs to sub-genre about street combats as ¨Lionheart¨ with Jean Claude Van Damme and whose maxim representation turns out to be the classic ¨Hard times¨ by Walter Hill with Charles Bronson and James Coburn . It's a colorful but violent entertainment that results to be the second film of his director Dito Montiel. His first movie was the dramatic ¨Guide to recognizing the saints ¨and in preparation ¨The son of no one¨ also with Channing Tatum and Al Pacino . Rating : passable , only for those who like films in which fist-play are staged ad nauseam .