You have been warned. There will be plenty of pun jabs in this review, but please don't count me out yet. Roberto Duran, the legendary Panamanian boxer, is in the center ring in Writer-Director Jonathan Jakobuwicz' bio pic "Hands of Stone". Jakobuwicz features Duran Duran, and more of Duran; I just did that so I could include one of my favorite bands of all time in this review. Anyways, Edgar Ramirez stars as Duran in a bit over-the-top performance but still had a few uppercuts in his work. The film features Duran as a child living in the Panamanian slums, and then as a young man who loved the boxing game, next his eventual rise into the ring, and lastly his legendary battles with boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard. Jakobuwicz also presents Duran's personal life in his relationship with his girlfriend and then wife Felicidad. But this movie is very much also about Duran's seasoned trainer Ray Arcel, who is played with plenty of punch by the great Robert DeNiro. Arcel had a wealth of experience training champion boxers, but ran into a mob squad that physically & mentally forced him out of boxing. Years later, Arcel discovers Duran, and thought it was time to get back in. There is no doubt that Jakobuwicz does get a bit showy in several of the film's scenes; but you know what, I found them to be in the ropes of "guilty pleasure" watching. DeNiro, who needs no training in the thespian world, was brilliant as Arcel. I also enjoyed the first card supporting work from John Turturro as a mobster, Ruben Blades as Duran's manager, and Usher (yes, that Usher) as Sugar Ray Leonard. Sure, there lots of cheesy stuff in "Hands of Stone" that have a familiar ring to it, and yes I do think many will be sparring partners of mine by disagreeing with me on that it was an entertaining bio flick; but I don't see why you should not go head to head and eye to eye with "Hands of Stone". **** Good

This film tells the story of a young man in Panama, who grows up to be a successful boxing champion. This film chronicles his rise and fall in the boxing world, and the story of the people around him who makes everything possible.Boxing is a sport that I don't really understand, so perhaps that's the reason that I can't really get into the story. I can see how history and politics makes Duran angry, and he channels that into boxing. His rise to fame is a good story, and I like the parts where the coach said about strategies. However, the rest of the story is not so well told. I still can't understand why he did what he did at the $8 million dollar match. A reminder, make sure you watch it with subtitles on, unless you soak good Spanish, as a lot of the dialogue is in Spanish.

Writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz has captured the true story of Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán and has been able to turn this rags to riches to dissipation and back story into far more than just a boxing story. This is a film that focuses on the interpersonal and professional relationship between a fighter and his trainer and it works well.The story is a rise, fall and rise again story of legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán (Edgar Ramírez) who climbed into notoriety in 1968 as a 16 year old in his first controversial appearance at Madison Square Gardens. In June 1980, he defeated Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond) to capture the WBC welterweight title but shocked the boxing world by returning to his corner in the November rematch, saying 'no mas' (no more): he was retiring from boxing. By the time of his actual retirement in 2002 at the age of 50, he had 199 fights under his belt with 103 wins and four titles as a lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. The film however focuses on his relationship with legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) whose own exploits in the boxing world made him the first trainer to be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.The cast is splendid – and in addition to Ramirez, Raymond, and De Niro there are fine supporting roles by Ana de Armas as Roberto's wife, Rubén Blades as Carlos Eleta, John Turturro as Frankie Carbo, Pedro Perez as Plomo, and Ellen Barkin as De Niro's wife, and Reg E. Cathey as Don King.For boxing fans and for those who respect the history of sports this film is a must. But beyond the boxing and historical aspects, the interacting between Ramírez and De Niro is richly rewarding and Oscar worthy performances. Grady Harp, December 16

The film never recovers from my reluctance to accept the actor in the title role as Roberto Duran. The genuine boxer was a small, skinny rat-like character in his early lightweight days. However, the actor is tall, strapping, chisel-jawed and above all far too clean-cut to pull off the sinister Duran persona. I also do not buy the 'pretty boy' Sugar Ray Leonard character because 1) the actor looks like he's about forty years-old and 2) he's not good-looking. I wanted to see filth, poverty, violence in Duran's early days because this is what I've heard his background is, but where was the grit? the pain?Nobody else is going to make a film about this legendary boxer so we are stuck with this disappointing effort.