The Boxer (1997) User Reviews

Bleak portrait of a community trapped in a violent circle.

[contronatura · 8/10 · 28 February 2000]

The Boxer is an excellent film in almost all its aspects. The acting is quite good across the board, especially Emily Watson and Brian Cox. The cinematography is often stunning, especially in the way it uses the cold and minimalist color palette. There's a palatable sense of tension that flows throughout the picture, made more taut by the various directing techniques used by Jim Sheridan. One technique is the shots from the helicopters that circle above Belfast, showing a community that is under siege and giving a greater perspective on what it's like to live in this part of the city. And there are three parts to the story, all of which work very well. There's the story of Danny's release from prison and his attempt to start a boxing club. There's the romance between him and Emily Watson, a romance that is forbidden by I.R.A. codes. And then there's the I.R.A. themselves, struggling to find peace but being broken apart from within by leaders of splinter factions. A very moving film (with a great score by Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer as well) and a film that really addresses the issues of neverending violence in a very direct and emotional way.

Punches a Light into Dim Situation of N. Ireland

[Gladman · 8/10 · 9 August 1998]

The Boxer is dark movie about a seemingly unsolvable problem. It's filmed in a constant dark, dreary, depressing light; this light reflects not only the weather but the mood of Northern Ireland.

This expose of "the troubles" in N. Ireland uses a story about a boxer who returns to his home after being released after 14 years of imprisonment. His goal is to take his most usable asset (boxing) and make something of himself and his former coach.

Like everything in N. Ireland, living normally is laced with problems when you're in the middle of a war. His interest in his now-married former girlfriend is forbidden, since prisoners of war wives are off limits to honor the prisoner. Accepting gifts from the police force is also a sign of capitulation, and as such carries penalties.

The film clearly shows that those that wish to make peace (however passively) and live normal lives are marked as disloyal and targeted by the Irish Mafia (alluded to as the IRA in the film).

It's a sad commentary on a desolate group of trouble makers in a growing desolate land.

Grim and cold -- but Day-Lewis is again excellent.

[Pedro_H · 7/10 · 2 November 2005]

A former IRA man gets out of the can after 14 years and tries to rebuild his life in his old rundown Belfast neighbourhood.

This is a film that tries to cover a lot of ground and get a lot in. It has natural dramatic plus points in being set in a community that has been wrecked by civil war but has the hope of a new dawn. If only people would let it rise.

Prison does a lot to people. It is like a virus. It wears people down and changes them. Makes them harder and sexless. This is well portrayed in this movie. Boyle (Day-Lewis) has been inside almost all his adult life and is immature, but well contained.

Boxing is not the heart of this movie -- indeed it could live without it completely. It gives a dramatic centre, while the real drama is elsewhere and the message is not contained in the punches. In lots of ways it is a ticket selling con.

Director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot/In The Name of the Father) has done well with the limited material that forms the script. He uses a cool blue to replace the cold grey of the real Belfast. This prevents the place looking as dreadful as it really is and losing the audience.

Ken Stott plays an alcoholic boxing trainer who has a good heart and wants for the best. Sadly I don't put great store in men that decide they want to live their life in a stupor. Stott is a good actor though.

There is also a love story in this movie with Day-Lewis starting top pick up the pieces with his old flame Emily Watson. However the situation is complicated as her close relations don't fully approve (for reasons I don't want to go in to here.)

Any film that involves boxing has to nod to films like Rocky and Raging Bull -- and this film acknowledges it without borrowing too much. Indeed this is not really a boxing picture (as I said before) more a film about a man that uses boxing as he has very little else to cling on to.

The real weak point is the way ex-terrorist Danny (Lewis) is welcomed back and made a hero out of. Wouldn't his criminal record not prevent him from being welcome on the British mainland? Equally how good a boxer is he? Can't tell from the evidence here. Also you need a license to box in the UK -- and these are not handed out willy-nilly.

Small quibbles aside The Boxer is a better film than I thought it would be. It doesn't rub my nose in it any longer than necessary and all the thing really needs is something to climax on. What they come up with here is pretty weak and open.

Day-Lewis and Watson: Outstanding!

[intuitive7 · 2 April 2003]

Jim Sheridan's films are always powerful. Shakespearian in their intensity of character conflict, they bristle with grit, are masterfully acted, and propel themselves the way John Ford's best films do. I consider him, even with his limited output, one of the great A list directors. No, his camera work isn't stunning crane and rail ballet, it's old school - but GREAT old school - Zinneman, Ford. And if you're a filmgoer who likes to care deeply about characters, Sheridan makes your kind of film.

Acting doesn't get better or more truthful than Daniel Day Lewis and Emily Watson working together. They're absolutely believable - inspiring actually - as a couple struggling through forbidden love after 14 years apart. The dialogue they work with is A plus and written by Sheridan; thus it's probably tuned collaboratively during rehearsal. Very organic. Great (!) work by Gerard McSorley, Brian Cox (L.I.E.) and David Stott as Ike.

Yep, Northern Ireland as Sheridan portrays it can be dreary, as commented here. But it's also full of humanity, drunkeness, hope, cruelty, love, loyalty, oppression, and a desperate longing for change - all the stuff of true drama. The action commences at the moment Ireland is on the cusp of real but fragile peace. Boxing and the IRA? A one two punch.

I love this film and I'd watch it again with any friend who wanted to see an excellently written and played picture. If you want your blood to boil from some fine performers playing strongly written characters, check this out. Not quite "Elizabeth", but powerful. Good enough dramatically (albeit not quite visually) to sit on the same shelf with Raging Bull.

Could Have Been A Lot Worse

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 4 January 2004]

The only real problem Jim Sheridan has with THE BOXER is that he seems to be unable to inject much kinetic energy into the proceedings unlike IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER . Mind I`m not sure if that should be classed as criticism since ITNOTF played hard and loose with facts and was overly sensational , and do I have to remind anyone of the controversy with Sheridan`s previous movie effort with Terry George in SOME MOTHER`S SON ? So I guess THE BOXER could have been yet another movie where Britain gets the blame for Ireland`s troubles .

This is what I liked best about THE BOXER . the IRA terrorists seen here aren`t written as the brave and noble freedom fighters of so many Hollywood scripts , here they`re shown to be the worst type of gangster - People who feed on their own community . Yeah most of them want peace but that`s down to pragmatic reasons not down to any deeper morality . Anyone wanting to see a more objective drama centering around the secterian divide in Northern Ireland should watch this film . It`s not a film to watch over and over again but at least it`s a mature thoughtful drama on Ulster . It`s also well acted by the cast especially Ken Stott

Worth a watch, yet disappointing...

[ryanbuchanan_82 · 7/10 · 21 July 2006]

Jim Sheridan and Daniel Day Lewis have teamed together in the the past creating exceptional films such as "In The Name of Father" and "My Left Foot", but, "The Boxer" unfortunately will not be added to that list. Though a decent movie and well worth watching, it just doesn't captivate like I'd hoped for. Daniel Day Lewis succeeds in portraying Danny Flynn, a former prestiged boxer and IRA member recently released from prison after a 14 year sentence. Upon his release his politics have changed and he seeks peace through training kids boxing at a local gym, much to the dismay of his former IRA "friends". Emily Watson plays his long lost and bitter lover, en-raged with him for leaving her. Both do fine jobs of acting but it feels like the chemistry just isn't there, plus, their history is never quite explained and leaves you frustrated at times. My real problem with the film is that Danny Flynn's character never truly develops, and all you really find out in this film is that he was a boxer, associated with the IRA and loves Emily Watson. It briefly tells that he was imprisoned for his involvement with the IRA, but never specifies. It's obvious Sheridan wanted to touch upon the theme of Prostestant and Catholics struggle in Northern Ireland to live with each other in harmony, but personally I feel he failed at doing so.

Great actors doing good work

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 22 October 2014]

Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis) was imprisoned in his youth for I.R.A. involvement. He is released after 14 years. His old girlfriend Maggie Hamill (Emily Watson) is married to Danny's former best friend. He returns to his old neighborhood to a cold reception. In prison, he refused to openly support the I.R.A. but he also never named names. He wants to live life free from the political turmoil. He reopens the old boxing club allowing neighborhood kids and himself to fight in non-sectarian bouts. Maggie's father Joe Hamill (Brian Cox) is working for a ceasefire, prisoner releases, and ultimately peace. Maggie's husband is in prison and she still has conflicted feelings for her old love Flynn. When the cops show their support for the gym, I.R.A. hothead Harry (Gerard McSorley) is angered and the gym gets fired on. Later at a boxing match, police chief is killed in a car bomb which ends in chaos.

The boxing is the least compelling part of the movie. This works more as a love story between DDL and Watson amidst the conflicts. This is like a slow moving romance. That part works by the simple force of will from the two lead actors. Brian Cox is fine but it would work better if he's harder on DDL. Gerard McSorley is basically doing that part for the movie. There are some great actors doing fine work but the movie doesn't add up to greatness.

Realistic, depressing and yet full of hope

[BBCdk · 9/10 · 14 July 1999]

I really liked this film for several reasons. Firstly, it dares to tell the story of ordinary people caught up in a conflict that they don't want to be a part of, and having their best hopes crushed. The script isn't written to be a crowd-pleaser.

Secondly, the story and the style of narration is wonderfully subdued and lowkey, both fitting the story perfectly and allowing the viewer to really involve him/herself in the story and characters.

Finally, the performances of Day-Lewis and Watson are very good. Day-Lewis lends great credibility to his character. He is no Mel Gibson or Harrison Ford rising again with a firm jaw after each blow, but rather a believable portrait of a man believing and wanting to do his best, but time and time again having his hopes crushed.

But the real star performance of the film is by Watson. After "Breaking the Waves" I had written her off (sorry, but I tend to do that with people who have played in von Trier movies), but her performance in this film is simply outstanding. Her portrait of both pride, strength and vulnerability is amazing.

9 out of 10.

This place makes me want to kill.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 29 February 2008]

I cannot imagine a better example of religion's failure than the war in Northern Ireland. The land that we celebrate in March as a place of happiness is one where Catholics and Protestants bathed the ground with the blood of their young.

Danny (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a former IRA member who has spent the last 14 years in prison. he just wants to get on with his life and forget the war, but it is still going on and cannot be ignored. He also has unresolved personal issues with Maggie (Emily Watson) to address. They have to sneak around as she is a symbol - a wife with a husband in prison for his activities.

Outstanding performances by Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown , There Will Be Blood, Gangs of New York) and Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie, Breaking the Waves, Punch-Drunk Love), and Brian Cox (Zodiac, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy) as the man who was trying to establish a peace.

As you would expect of a film set in the war, there is no comedy or romance, just a dark, dirty, grim tale of life as it really is, not what we wish it to be. A brilliant cast giving us a needed reminder of the cost of war.

Sort of like "In the Name of the Father....Part Two".

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 16 September 2013]

I rarely watch movies more than once, however this is my second time watching "The Boxer". Why? Because the airline I was on when I watched the film is stupid. What I mean is that I'd seen 95% of the film---then they cut it off!! For years, I always wondered what happened at the end and finally I've gotten around to it.

Before I talk about the movie, I did find the choice of rolls for Daniel Day-Lewis very interesting. After doing "My Left Foot" and "In the Name of the Father", he chose yet another film set in Ireland or Northern Ireland. Because of this, and especially coming after "In the Name of the Father", there is a HUGE sense of Déjà vu, not only for the location but because BOTH films are about an Irishman who has been imprisoned for IRA activities. Though in this film Day-Lewis' character is much calmer, sweeter and subtle than in these other films--plus you really have to admire the way he prepared for this role*.

The film begins with Danny (Day-Lewis) about to be released from prison. I don't recall what it is he did to get there but it had to do with IRA activities and Danny is sick of prison and wants to put it all behind him. As far as he's concerned, although he's now 32, he wants to pick up with his old boxing gym (Holy Family) and distance himself from the IRA. He obviously has become disenchanted by them and their killing of innocent civilians. Now he just wants to box and do something very radical for Northern Ireland--open up the gym to young would-be boxers of all faiths--not just Catholics. His goal is to facilitate the healing through boxing and his idea generally is well received--though his old compatriots are not particularly pleased and do everything they can to keep the fires of hatred stoked. Plus, his old flame (Emily Watson) isn't sure if she should be loyal to him or her rather toxic family.

I really liked this film but noticed there were LOTS of divergent opinions. As a person with neither British nor Irish heritage, perhaps that is why I appreciated its message that it's time to stop the violence and have peace. I am sure this simple message irritated many on both sides of an insane conflict, though to me it just seems like a reasonable thing. Extremely well acted and quite gripping--I sure liked this film. I should warn you, however, the film is tough to watch at times. The boxing match with the Nigerian is one of the toughest and bloodiest in film history and the ending sure is tough to watch as well.

By the way, it could be because I watched the film streaming through Netflix, but there were no captions. I really would have preferred them since I am a bit hard of hearing and it's sometimes tough for me to understand the accents--and I am sure some others might have the same experience.

*Day-Lewis' acting method is legendary and even a bit scary. Even most method actors would be shocked how he puts himself into the roles (such as behaving as if he had severe cerebral palsy every second--even when the cameras were off while doing "My Left Foot"--necessitating insane things to accommodate his 'disability' by the crew). Here, according to IMDb, he worked for three years (THREE YEARS!) to perfect his boxing skills! Wow...that's dedication. And, while it might sound crazy, he is the actor with the most lifetime Oscars for Best Actor with three statuettes to his credit so far!!

This is another earnest movie about the troubles i...

[xenophil · 6/10 · 4 September 1998]

This is another earnest movie about the troubles in Ireland. I wanted to like it, but after I got over how well the handsome Daniel Day-Lewis is transformed into a stoney-faced, rugged, brutalized-looking boxer, I began to realize that there was no real characterization, the plot was aimless, and there was no real resolution. The love interest, though tender, is luke-warm. Still, some points for attractive characters.

Difficult but rewarding

[SKG-2 · 9/10 · 16 February 1999]

I think the reason this wasn't as well received as MY LEFT FOOT and IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (the previous collaborations of Daniel Day-Lewis and Jim Sheridan) is this is telling a more complex tale, and while I loved both of those films, this one you have to work harder for. It should be said there are some lapses, particularly in the dialogue, which is often unnecessarily repeated. And sometimes, in his attempt not to play on our emotions too much, Sheridan goes too far in the opposite direction, making the film too distant.

Still, this is a powerful film. Sheridan was accused with IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER with making an anti-British film, but in that one and this one, he shows he's not afraid of taking on his own people as well. At the same time, while his sympathies are with Day-Lewis' character, he's able to recognize all sides of the situation, as to emphasize the point that peace is always hard work. Day-Lewis, as usual, gives an outstanding performance, though he's a little too old, and Watson continues to grow as an actress with her performance.

THE BOLOX OF HUMANITY

[MadamWarden · 6/10 · 15 September 2020]

A well performed movie with noble and gallant intentions wrapped up in conscience wrapped in conflict wrapped in politics wrapped in lost love.

Lewis and Watson are terrific but the story is a little weak, trite and obvious.

I guess it tries to show the absolute stupidity of humans stuck in the past. But in truth it just shows the stupidity and cruelty and weakness of humanity. A desolate viewpoint. Sadly probably reflective of reality. Humans are BOLOX!

Half baked, clichéd and patronising?

[eclecticdave · 4/10 · 22 December 2004]

OK. Let's start this by saying that I am from Belfast and although I haven't ever lived in a nationalist "district" like the one this film tries to portray I am fairly aware of what happens in parts of Belfast. With that out of the way - the acting isn't that bad, Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty good as is Emily Watson except for the occasional dodgy accent the rest get through unscathed. It's not the "Irish Rocky" - despite sporting some very striking similarities in the plot, Danny never really fills you with much confidence. But the most offensive thing is the patronising tone of the film. Perhaps I have been put off by the skyline shots of another town that quite obviously isn't Belfast and the look of a film that could have been shot in 1987 not 1997 but the politics was patronising - a boxing match could bring together 2 communities that have been locked in hatred for 30 years? Substituting one sort of violence for another, albeit a much less nasty violence, is the kind of logic that causes these unending wars. Give me a break Sheridan. He also wrote last year's corny Irish-American flick "In America". The picture is fairly dark and bleak, this can be the case for people living in fear, but this film skirted round the true issues that confine them there.

Sheridan's Most Complex And Misunderstood

[Chrysanthepop · 24 February 2009]

Sheridan's 'The Boxer' is far more complex than his other films like 'In The Name of The Father', 'My Left Foot' and 'In America'. The story revolves around a neighborhood of ordinary (and not-so-ordinary people) living in a troubled Northern Ireland. Sheridan successfully depicts the problem from both sides. One witnesses how difficult it is to lead a normal life in peace as this will be looked down upon and even used against you. The use of washed out colour gives a gloomy and depressing feel, and ironically also shows the weather. But, contradicting that Sheridan also skillfully portrays the love, devotion and hope of the people.

Fine performances are almost always expected from Sheridan's films and here too the actors do an outstanding job. Daniel Day-Lewis is superb. His restraint reflects Danny's calm dignity and he is very convincing as the man who recognizes a second opportunity in life and tries to make the better of it. Emily Watson is sublime. Her quiet portrayal of Maggie's strength, pride, courage and vulnerability is spot on. Brian Cox is stupendous. Gerard McSorley proves again how wickedly good he can be when it comes to playing menacing characters. Ken Stott is excellent.

I feel the reason why 'The Boxer' is so underrated and not as highly regarded as Sheridan's other films is because it's far more complicated than what they're used to seeing. However, in my opinion, this is just as effective as Scorsese's 'Raging Bull' and better than the likes of 'Rocky.

Takes the Eight Count

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 5 March 2002]

Henry James had this idea that sports were "the moral equivalent of war." Instead of taking it out on the battlefield, humans could take it out on the gridiron or the boxing ring. It was all in keeping with the hydraulic theory of emotion promoted by Freud. You know, get it off your chest. Boy, were they wrong.

What gloom -- social, narrative, and visual. Danny comes back after fourteen years in the slams (sentenced for acts committed during his affiliation with the IRA and because he wouldn't rat on a comrade) to find his former girlfriend, whom he still loves, inaccessible and his former milieu more complicated and twisted than it had once seemed.

Boxing serves as a metaphor for the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Danny has practiced a lot while in prison and is now a bit old but still pretty good. At least, after all those years of feeling nothing, he can now experience pain and release his rage.

Danny builds a primitive "non-sectarian" gym in the middle of Belfast during the Troubles, hoping to bring the two religious factions together. The boxing scenes aren't that good. Danny and his opponents are like two club fighters. No fancy footwork, no missed punches, no gangling around between shots -- just WHAP WHAP WHAP as each punch lands dead on target. And the gymnasium is so dark (a kind of electronic blue pervades almost every underlit scene, which is just about all of the scenes) that the marvel is not so much that the boxers could punch one another but that they didn't fall all over each other in the dark.

Danny views the gymnasium and its matches as a kind of ecumenical shrine where adversaries can take it out on one another in a socially approved William-Jamesian manner, a bit less brutal than blowing them to pieces. In the end he realizes that even this symbolic warfare is unjustified and throws in his own towel after pummeling an opponent almost into unconsciousness. The IRA begins to see the light as well and the movement becomes oh so peaceful after a bit of soul-searching, except for one no-goodnik (the guy whose bacon was saved when Danny didn't rat on him).

But the bitter reactionary is a renegade and is disposed of by the organization without a great deal of trouble. Come to think of it, there isn't that much that separates the idealistic IRA folks from Doctors Without Borders. Daniel Day-Lewis does a splendid job as Danny Flynn. In no way is his appearance gussied up.

He looks like an ex-inmate. Emily Watson, with her broad forehead and searching eyes, is becoming one of our more talented actresses. Their Irish accents are flawless, at least to American ears. A fine and mostly uncompromising movie about romance and idealism set against the background of the troubles. It's dreary, inside and out, but it's not slow and it's a movie made for adults, not an audience whose emotional development has been arrested.

Not much love going on here

[CharltonBoy · 7/10 · 12 July 1999]

Reading the front of the video it said this film was a love story but I didn't see much love going on here. Is Northern Ireland and its people really this nasty? Because nearly every film I see about the country it portrays it as a horrible place to live.This film is no different although it is a good film. Daniel Day Lewis is very good and his boxing skills looked very profesional. If you're after some light entertainment forget it this is difficult to watch but none the less enthralling.

Dank setting lends to films uneasy atmosphere

[kellehc · 6/10 · 8 October 2009]

Danny Flynn, a former IRA volunteer, is released from prison after 14 years to quietly rebuild his life in his rundown corner of Belfast.

The setting of the film is so dark and impoverished someone with a knowledge of Ireland can only assume it was shot in Dublin's inner city as there are no districts of Ireland outside the capital that resemble that level of urban poverty. This is a contributing factor to the feeling of detachment the film gives off and only really the scene in East Belfast between Danny and Maggie give us a local feel, this coupled with the warmth of the dialogue, is one of the few tines the viewer can invest in the story.

Films set in Belfast require on site production to be of value as the local area is as much a character in films based on the 'troubles' as the actors themselves. If the director was seeking to give us a feel of Irish urban poverty at its very worst why didn't he just go the whole hog and film the picture in the Moyross area of Limerick City, as it is about as relevant to a Belfast based picture as Dublin's north inner city.

A Magnificent Emily Watson Performance

[dianerpessler-46164 · 10/10 · 4 July 2015]

Director Jim Sheridan's The Boxer is an excellent motion picture that shows the very human face of the dark times in Northern Ireland. The imagery of how the people live in this war zone is haunting and bleak, never to be forgotten. Daniel Day-Lewis is superb in his deeply moving role and he is surrounded by an exceptional cast. Particularly outstanding is Emily Watson as Maggie, a magnificent performance that lights up the screen and warms the heart. Watson is indeed one of England's most gifted actors, perhaps the finest of our time. Her quiet beauty, brilliant eyes, and depth of humanity are simply overwhelming and watching her on screen is a powerful cinematic experience without equal. It is outrageous she is not even listed as a cast member on the IMDb first page when she was originally prominently featured as Day-Lewis' co-star. Anyone who sees this film will never forget her work here and the image she presents of loveliness, strength, and smoldering sexuality.

It's kinda about boxing...

[calyeager · 6/10 · 2 March 2021]

If you don't have a good grasp of the Provisional Irish Republican Army or power struggles in Ireland, this movie won't be the one to describe it to you. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a nice performance as Danny Flynn and is matched well by Emily Watson as Maggie, but most of the story goes over my head without prior knowledge. Boxing seems slightly disconnected from the overall crux of the film, though clearly religion and the non-sectarian nature of the boxing club come into focus. I personally don't think the film knew if it was a sports movie or a romance film, and it failed to be either to me. I give The Boxer a 6/10.

12 years after, this is still worth watching again and again.

[davoshannon · 9/10 · 22 June 2009]

First of all The Boxer has Day-Lewis in top form. And according to Barry McGuigan who trained him for the boxing, he would have made a damn good middleweight (?) - his usual immersion taken to new levels.

And the support is marvellous. Always like Brian Cox, but here he's joined by Gerard McSorley and Ken Stott who put real grit and heart (resp.)in the story.

Yes, it can be seen as dour and downbeat, but there's a lot that rings true. Boxing has a strange cross-cultural appeal up North, and there were indeed instances of Protestant boxers in Catholic Clubs, and vice versa. Needless to say when any one of them took on an outsider there was an immediate unity that politicians could only dream about.

When during the first match Ike introduces the Protestant parents of a boxer who once boxed for the club (Sammy Orr), but who died in "the Troubles", I just choke up.

Everybody loves a fighter, and if you were in similar circumstances ???.

Don't forget it's a more than slightly sanitized version of real life. But as most people found it bleak and depressing already I won't continue.

Watch the great performances, and every scene - there's something going on at every turn.

A timely boxing drama set during the final days of the Troubles

[vampire_hounddog · 6/10 · 30 July 2020]

Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis) is released from prison after over 14 years of incarceration for his activities with the IRA. He hardly receives a hero's welcome back into the community and makes a decision to turn his back on his past and instead open a non-sectarian boxing gym for all back in his old Belfast neighbourhood. He is helped by his alcoholic former trainer, Ike (Ken Stott) and renew his career as a boxer, but his past is less willing to let him go. When he tries to re-new his relationship with his old girlfriend, Maggie (Emily Watson) who is also married to an incarcerated IRA prisoner, the pair try to keep their relationship a secret.

Day-Lewis, as usual, simmers in this third Irish film he has made with director Jim Sheridan (the other two being MY LEFT FOOT,1989, and IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, 1993). The background to the film is quite timely, released just months before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement as the more radical elements of sectarian militancy were finding themselves increasingly isolated. The mix of boxing drama with the background of the Troubles makes for a heady and fascinating mix with some good support, especially by the ever reliable Brian Cox.

Emily Watson Makes This Film Her Own

[JohnLeeT · 10/10 · 28 October 2012]

Emily Watson, the most gifted actor in cinema working today, gives another stunning performance, a performance of such power that it pummels the viewer with emotion to the extent that one is left limp in their seat at the film's conclusion. Reaching down to elevate Day-Lewis to her level, Ms. Watson bathes the screen in raw sexuality, passion, and beauty. Her heart is laid bare in this film and she tears open her very soul to allow her audience to witness the performance of a lifetime. Ms. Watson's beauty, her eyes so alive with life itself, her soft vulnerability are overwhelming. The screen is nothing less than electrified by her presence in this film and it is she alone who dominates all. It is a film that is well written, directed, and acted by a supporting cast, but this is film that belongs in the pantheon of Emily Watson screen triumphs and which will be remembered for all time due to what she bestows upon it. You will be left breathless and rocked to the core as Ms. Watson spiritually assaults your senses and drives you mad with desire, compassion, and pure adoration. In that sense, this is typical of any Emily Watson film. However, she brings out the best in Day-Lewis, just as she did Fiennes in Red Dragon and that inspiration and challenge she offers fellow actors is something new we are seeing in the profound efforts of Emily Watson. It is certainly welcome and does nothing to diminish her. In fact, it makes her own gifts and genius even more clear to all who love cinema.

Geeky Randy's summary

[Geeky Randy · 6/10 · 1 June 2015]

Overall bland but nicely shot film centering around boxer and former Provisional IRA volunteer Day-Lewis's release from prison after serving 14 years for "taking the rap" and attempting to go straight in his old Belfast neighborhood. Watson and Scott work fine in their supporting roles, but Cox and McSorley's talents are wasted by rushed character development. Despite Day-Lewis' three years of boxing preparation mixed with the unusual outcome of a real-life bout, not a single gripping boxing match is delivered throughout the entire film—with fires and brawls going on outside of the ring (plus the intense climatic sequence which seems out-of-place in this otherwise incredibly dull flick) it's really hard to take an interest in the sport of boxing.

** (out of four)

More dismal, dreary stuff about Ireland

[=G= · 5/10 · 29 May 2002]

"The Boxer" tells of a man (Day-Lewis) who returns to Belfast following a 14 year prison sentence for IRA misdeeds and sets about opening a community boxing gym while renewing an acquaintance with the woman he loved before being sent to prison. The film offers solid performances in a doggedly plodding and somewhat unsatisfying story which lacks cohesion and seems to come off like just more woebegone sniveling over the age old Irish rift. A good watch for those with the stomach for yet another flick about people caught up in Irish issues.