(spoiler free)
New boxing drama ‘The Fight’ sees British comedy favourite, Jessica Hynes throw her directorial hat into the cinematic ring for the first time. With Hynes also staring in the leading role and writing the screenplay here, the film follows Tina (Hynes), a residential care nurse, wife and mother of three, juggling the demands of family life under some challenging personal circumstances. With the pressures of family life looking to get the better of her Tina turns to boxing to help deal with her emotional exasperation.
You might think you have ‘The Fight’ worked out before you see it. With Hynes, who is renowned for her comedy it’s easy to assume that this will be a focus of the film. Similarly with many boxing films before it you might expect the usual sporting drama formula to be employed here too. However, neither of these things are necessarily accurate as with ‘The Fight’ Hynes actually delivers a truly unpredictable drama full of complexity and emotion. Now despite comedy not being the sole focus of the film Hynes still injects a lot of her wonderful humour into the screenplay. This element is more prevalent at the beginning of the film and is used well to secure the attention of the audience and endear them to her characters. She does this in a number of ways but her capturing of home life proves particularly comical and will be relatable for a lot of audiences. In addition to this the cast as a whole, but more specifically some of those portraying smaller roles in the film truly excel in bringing the comedy in the screenplay to life. Alice Lowe’s appearance is a definite highlight in what’s quite possibly the funniest scene in the film.
Humour aside, there’s a very noticeable shift in the writing where this element takes a step back and makes way for a more dramatic focus. The film quickly changes from a straightforward family drama to a more complex, morally challenging character study. ‘The Fight’ is an intriguing example of how important context is and how what the audience does or doesn’t know about characters, situations and plot can affect how they view a film. Hynes reaches far, attempting to incorporate several character’s storylines into the main narrative, but with the film’s succinct running time maybe doesn’t quite have the chance to bring all of these to a fulfilling conclusion. Nonetheless this is an admirable angle to take, especially with her influence in so many crucial aspects of the film-making process, showing her awareness of much more than just her main character. Through careful collaboration with her production company Hynes has been able to secure a very talented cast. Some big names excellently lend their hands for smaller scenes here and there but it’s her core cast including Shaun Parkes and Sennia Nanua who consistently create a captivating chemistry with her which effortlessly engages the audience.
So with the cast delivering performances of such a high quality across the board and the surprisingly involving screenplay ‘The Fight’ packs more of a punch than you might have first expected. Despite its limited financial capabilities and independent nature the film manages to shake all of the reservations that projects like these can sometimes cause with audiences, feeling natural and authentic from the word go. Jessica Hynes has once again demonstrated her raw talent as a writer and performer and in this instance has brought even more to the project with the debut of her directing skills too. This isn’t your run of the mill boxing flick, nor is it an all out comedy but ‘The Fight’ is worth going the distance for and is an aspirational example of low budget, independent film-making.
Written by Hamish Calvert
Rating – 7.5/10
Question: What’s your favourite British boxing movie?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)
Thanks for reading this review and please let us know what you thought about the movie! Leave a comment below or drop us a tweet over at @HCMovieReviews.
HCMovieReviews 
Leave a comment