Resurrecting the Champ

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 26, 2007

Why Resurrecting the Champ has only received a 62% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes is beyond my comprehension. The film I witnessed is one of the best sports movies of the decade and it ranks right up there with Ron Howard’s 2005 boxing drama Cinderella Man. Resurrecting the Champ is the perfect way to cap off the summer; a summer that has seen its ups and downs, but boy does it end on a high note.

Resurrecting the Champ stars Josh Hartnett as a young sports journalist, who covers boxing matches for the Denver Times. This young man’s name is Erik Kernan, son of a famous boxing commentator with the same name. Erik himself is married, although temporarily separated, and has a child, Teddy, who is at the curious age of six.

Kernan is having problems with the new editor (Alan Alda), who complains that Kernan’s stories lack personality and more often than not he chooses not to publish them. Thus, this is hurting Kernan’s career as he seeks to become a staff writer for Denver Times Magazine. One night Erik potentially finds a Pulitzer Prize winning story as he stumbles upon a bum (Samuel L. Jackson) in an alley who just took a gang beating. Trying to help the old man, Kernan realizes this bum is an ex-prize fighter, who was just one win away from being champion of the world. This boxer’s name is Bob Satterfield but he refers to himself as Champ.

What makes the story fly is the fact that the majority of the sports community believes that Bob Satterfield is dead. But now it appears that he is not and Kernan decides to write a public relations piece on his rise and fall and how he ended up on the streets. He completes the story and gets it published in the magazine and it is an instant hit, but is it true? Insert twist here. This is what elevates Resurrecting the Champ above mediocrity, it’s cleverness in this beautifully adapted script. Is Satterfield really who he says he is?

Resurrecting the Champ is a triumph for director/former film critic Rod Lurie. Who knows the essentials of a great film better than a film critic? Judging from the performances, Lurie and the cast seem to have gotten along famously and he has done an excellent job helming this sports movie that doesn’t succumb to the cliches of other feel-good movies such as Pride. He really seems to nail every dramatic scene and every climatic twist in the movie.

Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson (who is now the front runner as my annual ‘Man of the Year’ award, adding this to his performance in Black Snake Moan) give two knockout performances. In terms of Oscars, Jackson’s performance would be better suited as a supporting role while Hartnett is more of a main character. With his surprisingly faint voice that sounds like he’s almost gasping for air, Jackson, in my mind, deserves nothing short of an Oscar nomination. He’s 100% convincing and in the hands of a less talented actor, his character would probably come off a silly. Thanks to Hartnett, the film doesn’t suffer when the camera isn’t on Jackson as Hartnett gets the majority of screen time.

The biggest praise should go to writers Michael Bortman and Allison Burnett. What a terrific screenplay they have adapted from this true story. It’s only problem is how it lingers on the relationship between Erik and his son, Teddy, who believes his dad is best friends with John Elway which is far from the truth. Other than that though, it’s pretty close to perfection. There are quite a bit of subplots, but they are beautifully interwoven into the main storyline, as is the climatic twist of whether or not Champ is who he says he is.

Hartnett’s character is the heart of the movie. Erik is a man who wants to be successful and, as he tells Champ, wants his title shot. But instead of being careful, he gets wrapped up in a story that may or may not be true but only sees the greatness of it and not the consequences. He sees things how he wants to see them. His character is like the career of a boxer. He has his rise and his fall. He’s talented, he gets his fifteen minutes of fame, only to be followed by utter embarrassment. And the movie in no way neglects the origins of Jackson’s character as his story is just as tragic. Irony is the film’s central theme and it’s what makes Resurrecting the Champ special. What a gloriously wonderful sports movie.

The Upside: One of the best sports movies of the decade.

The Downside: Destined to falter at the box office.

On the Side: I believe the true story the movie is based on took place in Los Angeles instead of Denver.

Read more articles by Nathan Deen