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Simply A Masterpiece

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The journalist in question is a sports reporter (Josh Hartnett) who's been ground down by overwork and is about to be fired for the lack of flair in his writing when he stumbles upon an ex-boxing-contender (Samuel L. Jackson) who's now punchy and homeless. When he writes the story up for the paper's Sunday magazine, it's a sensation, ESPN comes knocking at his door and he's otherwise swimming in glory until a discrepancy appears in the old pug's story and the situation explodes in his face. As all this unfolds, director Rod Lurie laces the action with subplots and themes -- the inhumanity of boxing, the difficult relationship between fathers and sons (the reporter's father was a famous sportscaster) and more. Somehow, the movie just can't support all these competing themes. It never quite emerges as a morality tale (largely because it's never quite clear what the reporter did that was so terrible).

Young sports writer Erik Kernan Jr. (Josh Hartnett) for the Denver Times finds homeless Champ (Samuel L. Jackson) after he's beaten by some kids. He claims to be Bob Satterfield, a former heavyweight contender. His boss Ralph Metz (Alan Alda) isn't happy with his bland writing. He's separated with fellow writer Joyce Kernan (Kathryn Morris). He interviews secretly with magazine editor Whitley and in desperation, comes up with a pitch to write about Satterfield.Josh Hartnett is living off of his good looks and it's very douchy. Luckily for him, it fits his character quite well. Jackson is compelling as the down and out fighter. His ragged voice is great. The twist takes the movie from a sappy feel-good story into someplace a little bit deeper.

Resurrecting The Champ isn't your typical boxing movies like Rocky, Cinderella Man nor Million Dollar Baby. It is more of a personal story without a fight in the ring but rather a fight on personality, confidence and success. One of the best part of this movie is Samuel L. Jackson's role as "The Champ." When we think of Samuel, first thing that pops in our head are, The eternal all time badass mother****er, a man built with guts made of steel and endless slang of swear words with comedy naturally in them. In this movie however we see a completely different side of Samuel L. Jackson, a side which could bring a tear in the eye, a side that proves he is just more than a movie badass, a side of him actually acting instead of him being himself. This is a side of Sam Jackson we rarely see and a side we must treasure and remember. Sam Jackson makes 70% - 80% of this movie magnificent. The rest of the actors/actresses did very well too working with the plot based on a true story with fantastic emotional connection with the audience in all ways. This movie deserves a Nine perhaps if they only focused more on details of situations and problems but an Eight still gives this superb movie a high ranking which is also Samuel L. Jackson's best performance YET!

Resurrecting the champ has the exact story line as a real life incident where a guy was claiming to be Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. There was guy back in the late 1980s or early 1990s that worked at Smitty's in Tempe Arizona that claimed he was Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. He was a minor celebrity in Tempe, like Elvis the Hillbilly, until 20/20 did a story about him. Spanky, another Little Rascals member, saw the 20/20 show. He called the 20/20 and said the guy was a fake and that he knew that Buckwheat had been dead for a long time. There were scandals, retractions, and I think someone lost their job at 20/20. It was kind of sad since he was just a nice old guy not out to hurt anyone. It was fun to go into Smitty's and say hey to Buckwheat. He was always friendly and even had the same hairdo.