MovieChat Forums > Undisputed (2002) Discussion > when there is no one to root for, a movi...

when there is no one to root for, a movie kinda sucks.


spoilers:

gee do i root for the rapist or the murderer?
this movie was not good at all. ving rhames is angry hes in jail. he punchs everyone. wesley snipes is in jail hes the champ and they fight. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

go rent diggstown for a good boxing movie

reply

For me it's kindof refreshing when a movie doesn't try to force you to root for someone. The best movies are those where you are free in your choice, read, where the characters aren't one-dimensional "good" or "bad".

reply

I wasn't rooting for either. But then again, I wasn't against either either.

We have a man who may or may not have raped a girl. And a man who punched a guy to death for sleeping with his wife.

Sure, neither are the most stoic. But that doesn't mean they aren't likable.

They're multidimensional characters.

Besides, since when do we always root for the good guys in movies?

I can think of several examples when I've rooted for the bad guys. And I'm sure some people will agree with me.

The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger
Swordfish - John Travolta
Inside Man - Clive Owen
3:10 to Yuma - Russel Crowe
Pitch Black - Vin Diesel
Goodfellas - All of them
Reservoir Dogs - They were all bad
Pulp Fiction - Same
From Dusk Till Dawn - George Clooney
Training Day - Denzel Washington

Natural Born Killers... Ocean's 11... The Usual Suspects... The Godfather... Out of Sight... Heat... The Boondock Saints... Frailty...

almost ANY slasher movie (Freddy, Jason, etc.)... I'm never rooting for the teenagers to stop him. I'm rooting for the killer to dice them up...

I think I've listed enough examples... A character can easily and often be "bad" and still be rooted for.

"I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you're already there."

reply

[deleted]

How old are you - nine?

D.


"...cookies so valuable, they are hand-delivered by uniformed officers."

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]

yea,...

a potential rapist (evidence seemed solid tho), and a murderer, who killed the man sleeping with this wife. cant help but wonder, yea you would be mad if that were you, but he put so much into hurting that guy, especially the way Snipes came in and feeds into the situation. it seemed AFTER he went to jail, he was the "humble guy". the guy i myself saw BEFORE he even killed the man was more of the opposite a lil. guess "Life" will do that to you.

Rhames was so cocky, everything a stereotype boxing star is, convicted of rape, and he pretty much fits the profile. sheeeeeeeit, i kinda think he did it too. egotistic, arrogant, stubborn, cocky, he basically worshiped himself.

Two criminals...yea, if your a moral type person, each side's looking pretty dirty. one killed, one raped, the choices dont look appealing. lol

“I am YuLaw!! I am nobody’s b`tch…” -/The One

reply

THERE WILL BE BLOOD?!

reply

[deleted]

The choice is between a man whose in the situation full of remorse for a rage filled incident that anybody could of been put in (if you've never loved or trusted somebody with your heart and soul then been torn apart by them please don't even think you have a decent argument to reply with) or a pig headed arrogant pr*&k who doesn't think he's done anything wrong and would probably do the same thing again whenever he's felt like doing so and you still have nobody to root for it's no wonder the worlds so messed up.

reply

Monroe's low-key and modest philosophical nature made him sympathetic while Chambers' raging ego and cockiness ensured that he was completely hateful and unappealing throughout. I was rooting for Monroe all the way.

"We're all part Shatner/And part James Dean/Part Warren Oates/And Steven McQueen"

reply

Problem is, if you watched Undisputed 2 before, you like Chambers at first and then in this movie you feel like its not the same guy...

I mean, Boyka in Undisputed 3 was changed too, he was way nicer, i can understand why he pick on chambers, but he kill 2 guy because they fixed the fight for him... But then we can think maybe his first defeat, the knee broken can have change him...

But anyway, Chambers on the other hand seem to have been drastically change... i think in a way they should have put another character played by MJW, especially since Chambers is a boxer, and MJW can kick the *beep* out of people(Blood and Bone) Him vs Adkins could have been Epic, but he mostly use only his fist... Plus Rhames and MJW dosen't look similar at all... Anyway thats my opinion but to answer the question i didn't know who to root for... as i like Chambers from Undisputed 2, and Monroe seem like not such a bad guy.

reply

[deleted]

No, destroyerwod, the problem is that you guys EVER watch things with '2' or '3' behind them. These sequels weren't written & directed by Walter Hill, who did the first one.
Rare is the sequel which even comes close to the original.

BTW, I'm sorry you feel that you need someone to tell you who to root for. That isn't what Hill does. He pits bad guys against worse guys.

His films aren't ABOUT action. They have action IN them. They're about the psychology of the character.

See: The Driver, The Warriors, The Getaway, Tresspass.

Carpe Noctem!

reply

watching it now, had to force myself to sit through the whole movie. what a boring-ass film.

"I need more sex, OK? Before I die I wanna taste everyone in the world."
-Angelina HOlie

reply

[deleted]

Morals and ethics have no room in art

reply

Wesley was NOT a real murderer he got a bum rap. The flashback scenes do not fully explain his reasons for beating a man to death in a rage but I am imagining that the woman was his sister (not his wife or girlfriend because when he confronted that guy for being there she said it was "none of his business" and if he was the husband or boyfriend it would have been his business). What I have made up in my head is that his sister had a codependent relationship with a violent abusive boyfriend how beat her up all the time and Monroe warned the guy to stay the hell away from his sister and as abused women often do she took him back because he "promised to change" or something and when Monroe saw him there he confronted the guy and then the guy made some snide remark putting Monroe into a rage. I see Monroe as someone who did not deserve the murder one conviction and Murder 2 or Manslaughter would have been a more fair conviction. With murder 2 a person can get paroled in 20 years and being that the movie was filmed 13 years ago and his character had been in for 10 years according to what was said in the movie he would be out by now with murder 2, since he was a model inmate except for his scuffle with Chambers and would easily get parole approved.

That would have made a good sequel idea, some kind of legal appeal that gets the conviction downgraded to murder 2 or manslaughter and he gets out a middle aged man determined to make some quick money boxing (maybe he has aged well and kept himself in shape and has a few more years of being able to box before he is too old) so he gets one chance at the world title and of course manages to win it and get rich, would be a nice ending.

reply