Senteur
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
ChronicCinephilia
Most of the modern fight movies depicting boxing are absolute garbage. I did like The Fighter with Christian Bale but that's the only one I can think of...until Jawbone. Jawbone is a story of alcoholism, isolation, and a man just trying to get by with nothing. It reminds me a little bit of The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke which was also a very solid film. There's a lot of clichés in Jawbone but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. I remember watching an interview with Taarntino in which he said the stories of Pulp Fiction are all ones you've seen before but now they're being told in a different way and that makes it special. It's the delivery of the story that makes a movie special even if it lacks originality in its themes. This is a very solid movie and I enjoyed it very much. Sadly, it'll never get the recognition it deserves because the movie industry is oversaturated with very poorly made fight movies aimed at knuckle heads. No one wants to watch Fast And Furious type trash but this is probably the demographic who will stumble across Jawbone and of course dislike it because it's not what they were expecting. In any case, I'd just like to say well done to everyone involved in making the movies - I'm not easily pleased but you've achieved that with this movie.
angelsunchained
I wanted to like this film and was hopeful it would turn out to be another Fat City. However, it is really nothing special. Little real character development. You can't relate to the main charcater because you have very little to go by. The majority of the film is the star looking glum, walking around the streets at night and training in the gym. Honestly, I couldn't of cared less if he wins his fight or not. The acting is good; but it is basically the same thing over and over. Better off watching Fat City as Stacy Keach as a washed up fighter making a comeback is ten times better then Jawbone.
Gordon-11
This film tells the story of a former boxing champion, who becomes an alcoholic with no life to live. He turns to underground boxing just to make some money to get by."Jawbone" is really slow in pace. The initial twenty minutes could have easily condensed into just a few scenes by showing him with a bottle of alcohol, having an argument at the council and going into an AA meeting. Instead, the story drifts slowly, meandering its way through with little things happening. It takes fifty minutes for the boxer to get an underground boxing tournament set up. I just could not get into the film, the story or the characters' shoes.
tlarraya
We normally enjoy boxing films, as well as any other sports movies. We like the overcome aspects, the sense of achievement. There is none of that in this film. The protagonist is an old boxer and you can't relate to him because he never explains what he is expecting to achieve, what is his motivation. The acting is good. It was just not what I was expecting.
