MovieChat Forums > Lights Out (2011) Discussion > Finale was awful!

Finale was awful!

posted 13 years ago by rlei1130
13 replies | jump to latest

1. The fight scences - just awful!

- First off, the punches that "Lights" was throwing looked like they just found any old actor off the street and asked him to film a tough-man contest. This is the fight the whole season was leading up to, and you can tell that "Lights" is an actor, not a boxer.

- Next, if Death Row Reynolds is supposed to be the HW champion, is he really going to punch himself out in the first 3 rounds (answer...no)?

- The typical boxing cliche's - The ref is corrupt. The ring side doctor is corrupt. The HW champ destroys the challenger for the first 2 rounds, then suddenly loses all steam and gets annihilated in the next round. The challenger can take the worlds best beating, then KO the champ like no big deal... It was all just SOOO unrealistic, especially since they were hyping Death Row as being such a dominant champ for the past 5 years.

- Finally, the former HW Champion of the world being carried out, like a 4 year old boy, by some guy in a tux... What the hell was that?? He wasn't straight up KO'd, he just couldn't answer the 10 count. Even if he was KO'd, he would regain his legs in a matter of minutes. I've been watching combat sports for the past 10 years, and I've never seen such a rediculas thing (even if it was only for a 15 second clip).

[–] Geneticks11 13 years ago

No wonder this show couldn't win. It had to impress guys like you, guys who "can tell that "Lights" is an actor, not a boxer." Wow. How many years did it take you to get so smart, again?

See if you can get this: the show wasn't about boxing. Fighting was the vehicle to explore the dilemma of a man backed into a corner by bad choices and diminishing chances. In other words, adult entertainment. Not "Adult Entertainment", no pussy, no busted bones poking through the skin, just grown-ups trying to navigate life without getting screwed or damaged any worse than they already are.

See? I knew you wouldn't like it. Stick with combat sports and you'll get everything you want out of life.

[–] rlei1130 13 years ago

Actually, the show couldn't "win" because, like you, the guys in charge focused more on the plot, and less on executing.

Sure, I understand the show isn't all about Boxing, and Boxing, if anything, is in the background. But that shouldn't excuse them from putting on realistic product.

The film "The Fighter" is in the same scenario as Lights Out. Its boxing film, but Boxing is really in the background. That said, when you watch Mark Wahlberg in "The Fighter", you wouldn't know that he was an actor, and not a professional boxer.

[–] Geneticks11 13 years ago

Don't forget a film shoot doesn't have the time and editing pressures of a weekly series. But I haven't seen "The Fighter" - I'll have to check it out.

Like you, I'm a fight fan, and we could spend hours dissecting the shortcomings of the show's boxing scenes. I admit that. I've done it myself in other threads here. But I got so wrapped up in the character it didn't really matter to me. I guess that's the willing suspension of disbelief.

[–] brokedickdog7 13 years ago

Excellent post Geneticks11. I agree. I really liked this series.

That said the op, trollish and unpleasant as he is, has a point.

There is no way a 46 year old man can play a heavyweight challenger in a fight the world wants to see.

Still suspension of disbelief for me as I really liked this series. Holt you were great but they should have cast an actor 10 to 12 years younger.

[–] TanteWaileka 11 years ago

I realize your post is 2 years old but it sickened me to read all the bull cr@p that people were posting about the shot AND about the star of the show.
So what if he is 46 years old and some of you didn't like how he boxed? I've got news for you, since you must be a KID. FORTY-SIX or even 50 isn't old. I'm 65 years old and I compete on fitbit dot com against a group of army regulars for jogs... guess what? I WIN. We all wear our fitbit devices when we jog and they have NEVER beaten me. True, they are probably wearing 50 pounds of gear, but so what? They are in their 20s and I'm 65. Well enough of that, you gotta get over thinking that a TV SERIES is 'real life'. It is ENTERTAINMENT. The star looks damn fine to me. He's in good shape. PERIOD. not even 'for his age'. He's in great shape.
As for his acting, I like him. I've only seen him in this series on netflix, but he is perfect in the role.
A good entertainer and that's all he needs to be. But do note that he is a mixed martial artist too.

Life is a journey not a destination. Fear nothing.

[–] theboxingcannabyte 8 years ago

....You so missed the point, mate. VEry, very, very, very few fighters, Archie Moore, George Foreman, a few others, ever made it into their 40s and stayed dominant and could take on younger up and comers or established fighters who are younger. Bernard Hopkins is kind of the modern day...Now if they wanted to play-up his age a tad bit more and show how he's a defensive puncher and not a speedster (Speedsters just don't last, they either adapt or journey's-end is around 36-42). As an amateur boxer who suffered more than my fair share of injuries (The eyepatch isn't for show) @ 30 years old I'm in worse shape than some people your age but I don't know a single 60-65 year old that would be able to give any champion-level fighter a real fight. That's the point. Even at 46, and they're right, it might have been a tough sale unless they went the "Bernard Hopkins/Moore" route.

Bernard Hopkins came back at nearly 50 and also jumped up a weight division, his name went from "The Executioner" To "The Alien"....now that would be an interesting boxer's story! Stranger than fiction, for sure. He also has succcessfully managed himself since the 90s after getting out of prison, and he held the middleweight division longer than just about anyone, if not the longest. Hence "The Alien," fighters like him? Extremely rare.

In 2016 age is becoming less of an issue but fighting is hard on the body, I got a hernia in my stomach, bulging discs in my neck and back, a bad right eye (Though that was from something else, mostly). A lot of wear, I wasn't the greatest boxer but I have a winning record and a good eye for training, better trainer than a boxer, actually. Point is, some people can last via genetics and defense, others get turned into tenderized-meat like myself.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] rlei1130 13 years ago

Lol, I'm not saying Wahlberg could be a real boxer, but when you watched the film, I wasn't thinking "this looks like someone who has never sparred a round in his life". Lights, on the other hand, was laugh out loud funny to watch... maybe this is just my opinion, but, the fighting scenes, were almost unwatchable.

[–] hardik-patialvi 13 years ago

He wasn't exactly impressive as Mickey Ward. And his style in the film was nothing like Ward's style in real life. Pretty disappointed in that regard but the film was good in every other sense.

[–] BrunoAntony 13 years ago

I thought the choreography for The Fighter was horribly unrealistic too ... I preferred the dramatic scenes. And Wahlberg (allegedly) trained for years while waiting to get the film made!

The only reason Lights Out's fights look a bit rough are because they show was obviously low-budget and the actors were doing their own stunts.

[–] daneadiwinata 13 years ago

as a fight fan i loved every second of this show except the actual bouts. i agree they looked really cheesy but i loved the drama aspects and training scenes. but just look at the fighter and daniel day lewis in the boxer especially and youll c what a good performance as a boxer is.

[–] avery011 12 years ago

I'm just curious as to what you think boxing cliches are, since other than the fight itself I've never seen anything like it. Without something completely anticlimactic, he either had to win or lose. I think doing the 10 round "Rocky" bit is the cliche in boxing stories anyway. I also get the feeling you haven't ever seen boxing before, because most of the time it is especially boring and I don't think anyone wanted to see 15 minutes of the show blocking and moving.

You're last point is what makes me think you're an idiot, especially considering what the overall arch of the story would have been, which wasn't boxing. Are seriously suggesting that concussions aren't real, and that it isn't plausible that someone might need help leaving the ring after taking several blows to the head?

From what I can gather you either haven't seen much of the show at all, or the concentration on head injuries went over your head. Either way, if the big fight was the driving factor behind your reasoning for watching the show, you should have realized by about the third episode that it was more about the relationship of a family than boxing, and there wasn't anything anticlimactic in regards to that end.

This is not an exit.

[–] Leveticus 11 years ago

The ending was a downer, but it made sense. Sometimes, victory comes at a price.