Respond to these rapid questions in our Bleed For This quiz and we will tell you which Bleed For This character you are. Play it now.
The film “Bleed for This,” which is based on a true story, begins in the style of a conventional “underdog-fighter-makes-good” movie, then takes a turn and becomes something else, and finally returns to the style of a conventional movie.
Vinny Paz, also known as Pazienza and The Pazmanian Devil, is portrayed by Miles Teller in the film. Paz is an Italian-American junior welterweight fighter from Rhode Island. He is a young guy who comes from a working class background and is likable, but he doesn’t take the sport as seriously as he should. He barely makes weight and spends all night out drinking and gambling the night before fights, which causes him to lose all of his money. His authoritarian father, played by Ciaran Hinds, puts him in touch with legendary trainer Kevin Rooney, played by Aaron Eckhart, who was one of the wizards who assisted Mike Tyson in channeling his rage. Rooney is the one who suggests to Paz that she move up one weight class, which would be a risky move. Everyone else in Paz’s inner circle, including his manager Lou Duva (who is portrayed by gravel-voiced character actor Ted Levine, who has never looked more unattractive or more strangely compelling), is of the opinion that it is a terrible plan. However, it ends up being a brilliant move on their part. After defeating the champion Roberto Duran (Edwin Rodriguez, who radiated intelligence and focus), Paz becomes not only a winner but a sensation and positions himself for stardom in the boxing world.
Then, as he is driving to the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut, he is struck head-on by another vehicle, which causes his vehicle to skid off the road and into a ditch. This turns out to be a rude awakening for him. His spine has been injured. In spite of the theologically loaded name of the device, “Boiler Room” director Ben Younger and cinematographer Larkin Seiple refrain from playing up the Christ-crucified parallels that are sure to form in the minds of viewers. He is required to wear a “halo” to keep his head upright, and it sits on his shoulders like scaffolding. The physician informs him that he will not only never fight again, but he will most likely never walk again either. Paz, unfazed, beguiles Rooney into participating in a covert training regimen in the basement of his parents’ house, and the film transforms into a tale of redemption as a result. A mind-over-matter narrative, the primary focus is on the physical effects that Paz’s injury has on his body, as well as how he copes with and overcomes the pain.
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The issue, however, is that we never get a sufficient sense of Paz’s interior life to be able to judge this movie as anything other than a comeback story about a nice guy who got knocked out by the cosmos and hauled himself up. This is the problem. The story moves along more smoothly thanks to the author’s extensive knowledge of boxing movies and sports dramas. The modesty of the writing is also appreciated. Nevertheless, there is a more profound and potent story here that remains frustratingly untapped. This may be the case because the film is aware that if it became too messy, contradictory, or raw, it would lose the “inspirational” label and become art.
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The narrative in many of the reviews of this movie has been criticized for being overly predictable, which is an odd criticism to read considering that the story is based on real events. If, on the other hand, you consider “Bleed for This” to be more of a commercial drama than a straightforward account of a man attempting to restart his life, you might be forced to concede that they have a point.
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Everything about this movie is excellent: the directing, the photography, the editing, the production design, and the majority of the performances. In addition, there are aspects of “Bleed for This” that go beyond the bounds of cliche, most notably in the sociological margins of the narrative. We get more journalistic details than are typically provided by pictures like these, such as the driving shots that set the scene in Providence and the leafy counties that surround it, the texture of the wood paneled walls in the characters’ homes, the cigarettes they smoke, the beer they drink, and the cadence of their talk, which frequently centers on men expressing their love for each other by busting each other’s chops. “Does it come with cable?” was the question. Rooney inquires of Paz while pointing to his halo. Duva tells Paz, “You got heart, kid, but you wear it on your fuckin’ chin.” “You got heart, kid,” Duva says.
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The movie does an excellent job of capturing what it is like to suffer from an injury. In far too many boxing movies, the vulnerability of the human body is minimized, unless the protagonist is being cautioned that if he continues to fight, he will lose his sight or suffer brain damage (he always disregards the warning and wins anyway). The exception to this is the portion of “Bleed for This” that takes place in the middle and focuses on Paz and Rooney’s covert rehabilitation project. Paz is seen sneaking into the basement, carefully slipping onto his weight bench, and attempting to bench-press a barbell that he hasn’t touched in years, then gradually removing weights from the barbell until it is the only thing that is left on the bench. The first piece of advice given to patients in rehab is to “start small.” It’s awesome to see a movie that not only acknowledges this fact of life but also manages to make the man who accepts it seem brave.
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However, there are significant issues with the film. The most obvious example is Teller, a dedicated and likeable actor who was badly casted in the role of Paz. You are aware of how hard he must have worked to get into shape, sell the accent, get the demeanor right, and so on, but he never seems to be completely credible in the role of the hero. This performance seems to have been constructed from the outside rather than coming from within. Teller doesn’t have the same affable meathead quality that Mark Wahlberg had in “The Fighter,” the movie that this film’s setting, which is contemporary, white ethnic, and working class, evokes. Wahlberg was one of the film’s most compelling characters. I never bought him as an Italian-American, a guy with a working class sensibility, or a boxer who is driven and skilled enough to win five world titles in three different weight classes in this movie, but he plays nonviolent guys struggling with specific personal demons in movies like “The Spectacular Now” and “Whiplash,” and he does a great job in those roles. However, I never bought him as an Italian-American in this movie (lightweight, junior middleweight and super middleweight). While he gets certain signatures right in the ring (such as Paz’s whirligig punch), the editing and camerawork often seem to be doing too much of the work for him (when he throws a flurry of combinations, he looks like he’s dog-paddling). He’s bouncy, even chirpy, and he verges on Tom Hanks or John Cusack in light-comic-lead mode.
Actors are only as good as their collaborators and the material they work with, so it’s fair to say that the writing and filmmaking are probably just as much to blame as Teller, but this is still a crippling blow to the movie’s overall quality. The supporting cast, on the other hand, is excellent, particularly Katey Sagal as Paz’s mother, who listens to fights from the next room because she can’t bear to watch her boy get hit on TV, and Aaron Eckhart, whose transformation into Rooney is both emotionally and physically complete. Sagal and Eckhart’s performances are particularly noteworthy because of the fact that Sagal plays Paz’s mom and Eckhart plays Rooney. It appears that he has shrunk himself and altered his skeletal structure, which is not something that is covered in any of the Stella Adler classes. The very first time I saw his character on screen, I thought it was Dean Norris playing it. Teller is unable to compete on the same level as any of them. Even though he is only a junior welterweight, he has a bright future in this heavyweight cast.
The context in which the movie places Paz’s return also raises some questions. It does not try to hide the fact that Paz reestablished his life by being optimistic, being stubborn, and working very hard. There is no denying Paz’s accomplishment; however, it is an accomplishment that is rarely shared by people who have suffered massive physical trauma, and it would have been nice if the film had acknowledged that fact. As it stands, there are scenes and moments in “Bleed for This” that seem to imply that if Paz did it, you can do it, too, and if you can’t, it’s because you didn’t try hard enough, particularly during Paz’s closing interview, which is a bewildering mistake. That was certainly not the intention, but it’s what comes across, and it ruins what could have been an otherwise pretty good and occasionally inspired sports movie, leaving the audience with a sour taste in their mouths.
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