Miles Teller has become an exceptional actor of his time. I was excited to see his turn as Vinny Paz, the Boxer with the broken spine. A story of overcoming impossible odds and agonizing pain seems like a role that was tailor maid for Teller. When we last saw him, he was getting slapped silly by an enraged jazz professor. Are we going to get Whiplash-ed again? Unfortunately, not this time. Among moments of greatness, Bleed for This is a totally missed opportunity. There is so much you could do with this material. Why couldn't we go deeper into the mind of Vinny? Why couldn't we see, in nuanced ways, how tortured a champion boxer could be when he realizes that he can never fight again? We do see this almost happening in the painful scenes of Vinny trying to lift a bar with his severed spine, and the brutal scene where Vinny gets his headgear unscrewed with no anesthesia. It's so visceral and awful, you can actually feel the pain. But the rest of the film is a cornucopia of boxing tropes. It's The Fighter meets Raging Bull meets Southpaw.. and on and on. You've seen it all before.
Review of Bleed for This
