Cinderella Man, Blu-ray (2005/2009)
Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti
Director: Ron Howard
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment 61106508 [Release date: May 26, 09]
Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic/enhanced for 16:9 color 1080p HD
Audio: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1; French, Spanish DTS 5.1
Extras: Multiple commentary tracks, Featurettes, Photo gallery, BD-Live content
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Feature Length: 145 minutes
Rating: ***1/2
Cinderella Man is based on the true-life story of Great Depression era boxer Jim Braddock (played by Russell Crowe), who bucked seemingly insurmountable odds to make the unlikeliest of comebacks and win the boxing crown in the mid-thirties. As an up-and-coming light heavyweight in the twenties, he suffered injuries to his right hand that hindered his ability to fight, and the onslaught of the depression found him losing his boxing certification – and essentially – his career. He soldiers on, finding work as available in the New Jersey docks, and he and his wife (Renee Zellweger) claw out a living with their three children, and his spirit is nearly crushed by the difficulties of daily living. His manager and trainer, played by Paul Giamatti, stays in touch, but he too has been hammered financially by the continuing depression, and is unable to offer any meaningful support. Braddock finally gets a break when a fight between the number two contender for the championship and a top contender is in jeopardy of being cancelled due to an injury to the challenger, and Braddock is asked to stand in and “lose” to the number two contender – for a juicy payday of 250 dollars. Everyone agrees that this will be a more humane way for him to exit the boxing world, at least by losing to a top flight boxer. Everyone except Braddock, that is, who knocks him out in the third round! Of course, he then goes on to success after success, and an eventual shot at the championship.
I have to hand it to Ron Howard; he really knows how to take an otherwise depressing story and weave into it enough hope to and uplift to keep your interest throughout. The sets are all dark and drab, with only the relative handful of very well-to-dos onscreen dressed in anything but rags. And there’s barely a ray of sunshine throughout – you are quite literally transported to depression-era New York. The Blu-ray disc offered really superb contrast, with really good black levels and highly detailed images. Of course, colors were quite intentionally muted, but the overall effect made for a quite enjoyable watch. The audio content of the movie was also quite serviceable, although very little seemingly went on in the surrounds. I checked them periodically to make sure they were in fact on, and there was just enough happening to give sufficient depth of sound to the proceedings. With the exception of the fight scenes, the film is really very dialogue heavy, so I didn’t find a whole lot to complain about for the most part.
My only real complaint about the film is that it’s premise is pretty much a foregone conclusion for the average watcher – you didn’t really have to stretch too far to surmise how the action was going to flow and that Braddock would ultimately triumph. But despite that, I still sat glued to my chair for the two-and-a-half hour runtime, so go figure! The filmmakers helped make the story infinitely watchable, with interesting plot twists – for example, when Braddock is offered the opportunity at a second fight after beating the number two contender, his trainer shows up with $175 to allow him to quit his job at the docks and concentrate on training. Braddock’s unhappy wife goes straight to the trainer’s apartment, to try and find out why he’s pushing her husband so hard to fight, and when he finally caves in and lets her beyond the door, she discovers that he’s sold all his furniture other than a folding table and chairs to back Braddock – that’s how much he believes in him.
Despite being an imperfect film, I found Cinderella Man to be quite an enjoyable watch, made even better by the Blu-ray’s highly detailed rendering of the details of a particularly dark movie. Highly recommended.
— Tom Gibbs
