Phantom Punch (2008)

Phantom Punch (2008). 1h 44m | R

“Iu0026#39;ve seen several movies about Muhammad Ali but I have forgotten everything I knew about Sonny Liston from those movies. Reading some of the IMDb comments tells me this movie might not be telling the whole story. In fact, the comments suggest this movie may be wrong about a lot of historical facts about a real person.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut forgetting all this, I thought this was quite a good movie. Ving Rhames gave an Oscar-worthy performance and made me believe there was more to Sonny Liston than the angry man the world believed he was. I actually didnu0026#39;t know anything about Liston, but once he became famous, it appeared the world hated him for defeating Floyd Patterson and being such a bad boy. But he really wasnu0026#39;t so bad, at least not here. Plenty of scenes show him as a gentle man trying to make a better life for himself. And as hard as mobsters try to get him to throw fights, he doesnu0026#39;t appear to want to.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTrue, he is shown getting violent because someone accuses Geraldine, a woman he genuinely loves, of being a mere hooker.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd he is unfaithful to Geraldine. But he really tries to make it up to her. And he doesnu0026#39;t hit her.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd Rhames doesnu0026#39;t give the only good performance. Stacey Dash shows intelligence and determination as the woman Liston loves. Rick Roberts is great as the prison priest who discovers Listonu0026#39;s tendency to get into fights could be used constructively. And the good father follows Listonu0026#39;s career on the outside as well, as he takes a regular church job. Nicholas Turturro does a great job as the man who seems to be in charge of Listonu0026#39;s career, but has to answer to higher authorities.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is quite a lot of violence and threats of violence, and I donu0026#39;t mean just in the ring.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne very effective scene makes use of slow motion as well as sound editing (thatu0026#39;s what Iu0026#39;ll call it) that suggests Liston has been hit one too many times and things donu0026#39;t seem real.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMost of the music here is great, and why not? It was set in an era when music was music. Toward the end, rock and roll was taking over, and there are some signs of that here. But itu0026#39;s Vegas, baby! And Bridgette Wilson-Sampras is quite a singer. Very good-looking too. No wonder Liston was tempted.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie is not without its weaknesses. I never speculated on what was real and what wasnu0026#39;t, but Cassius Clay doesnu0026#39;t even look like Cassius Clay (though neither did Will Smith), and he hardly says a word. Clay was known for his mouth, and off in the distance we do get to hear u0026quot;I am the greatest!u0026quot;. But Clay doesnu0026#39;t brag or use his colorful words. Not in this movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd I saw a 50-star flag. Iu0026#39;ve never seen a 48-star flag where the stars werenu0026#39;t in neat rows and columns, so that must be what I saw. It was still the 50s at the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, this was a worthy effort. Unless you want to tell the truth.”