Fighting

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Fighting

PG-13

2009

1h 45m

Drama

Action

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Popcornmeter

41%

Tomatometer

124 Reviews

36%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) barely makes a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets of New York. But he has a natural talent for street fighting, which con-man Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) wants to put to good use. Forming an uneasy alliance with Boarden, Shawn becomes top dog in the bare-knuckle-brawl circuit, taking down pro boxers, martial artists and ultimate fighters one by one. Shawn wants out of this dark world, but he faces the fight of his life to get there.

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Critics Consensus

Though Fighting has a likable lead performer, and the fight scenes are impressive, the paper-thin plot ultimately unravels.

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Perri Nemiroff

CinemaBlend

Aug 14, 2010

2/5

Call a movie Fighting, you expect action. Only include shots of Channing Tatum shirtless in the trailer, you expect to see half-naked Tatum. Fighting doesn't deliver either.

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Edward Porter

The Times (UK)

May 17, 2009

2/5

All of this, however, is plainly just a veneer on a solidly generic punch-up movie, and it thus becomes a drag. A more cartoonish approach would probably have been more fun.

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Trevor Johnston

Time Out

May 15, 2009

3/6

The tell-it-as-it-is title hardly indicates anything out of the ordinary, but this bare-knuckle boxing flick is put together with more love than you'd expect.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Sep 5, 2023

1.5/4

The action can hardly hope to make up for every other part of the experience that’s lacking.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Nov 28, 2020

5/10

At least there's humor found in desperation and comic relief in the quagmire of hustling.

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Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

Mar 2, 2011

1.5/5

Yes, both Channing Tatum and Zulay Henao... have careers for their looks alone, and they'd have better careers delivering pizza than delivering dialogue.

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Robert P

@Superbad Sep 24, 2026

Fighting = a *2* star Movie!

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Keith B B

@Okbullard Jan 2, 2026

I thought it was much better than all the tepid reviews. I initially watched because of Terrence Howard and Channing Tatum who are both great actors but I ended up really enjoying this one, particularly the ending. Give it a look.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 May 30, 2025

A failure in 1.75 hours and still too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Filippos S

@RT85468875 Mar 23, 2025

Not so fighting film, more Channing Tatum film (without a shirt).

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Jimmy T

@RT48020309 Aug 21, 2024

I give this movie a 5 out of 5 stars because the fights scenes in the movie is way better than all the fighting movies I've seen and by the way fuck rotten tomatoes and the audience score who rate this movie a bad score

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Andreas H

@RT37578004 Jun 16, 2024

Not Bad but for it's name being Fighting I was expecting something like rocky but the main thing is the plot is not that great fights scenes are okay but the movie in general is just ok the only reason why it would get what it get is because of Channing Tatum

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Dito Montiel

Director

Channing Tatum

Shawn MacArthur

Terrence Howard

Harvey Boarden

Zulay Henao

Zulay Velez

Luis Guzmán

Martinez

Roger Guenveur Smith

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Synopsis

Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) barely makes a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets of New York. But he has a natural talent for street fighting, which con-man Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) wants to put to good use. Forming an uneasy alliance with Boarden, Shawn becomes top dog in the bare-knuckle-brawl circuit, taking down pro boxers, martial artists and ultimate fighters one by one. Shawn wants out of this dark world, but he faces the fight of his life to get there.

Director: Dito Montiel
Producer: Kevin Misher
Screenwriter: Robert Munich
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Scion Films, Relativity, Rogue Pictures
Rating: PG-13 (Intense Fight Sequences|Brief Strong Language|Some Sexuality)
Genre: Drama, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 24, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $23.0M
Runtime: 1h 45m

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