Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Leofwine_draca When I stuck SHADOWBOXER on I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What I got was a lame action comedy with a large cast of bizarre characters and plenty of graphic sex scenes which add nothing to the storyline and do nothing for the viewer either. The result is one of the weirdest, most amateurish Hollywood films I've seen, a frankly embarrassing blot on the careers of those involved.A slumming-it Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a top assassin who just so happens to be having an affair with the miscast Helen Mirren, another assassin who is dying of cancer. Just a word about Mirren in this film: horrible. Her sex scenes with Gooding Jr. are frankly one of the most excruciating things I can remember watching in recent years and merely mentioning them makes me shudder. I don't know why these posh British actresses keep getting cast in action movies (Mirren went on to be in the RED films and Emily Blunt is another) but they stand out like sore thumbs and are always very wooden and unconvincing.The rest of the film is a mish-mash of supposed funny scenes, violence, and plenty of bad taste. Poor old Stephen Dorff plays the villain of the piece and has an embarrassing nude scene. The script is terrible with dialogue that rings hollow throughout. The less said about Macy Gray and Joseph Gordon-Levitt the better. SHADOWBOXER is the kind movie I wish I'd never had the misfortune to see.

Bob_the_Hobo I've never seen "Snow Dogs", thank God for small favors. I was actually walking into this one with Cuba Gooding Jr.s' recent DTV flops ("Hardwired", "Lies & Illusions") in mind, and I was curious to see what he was like in his hayday.Cuba and Helen Mirren are two assassins/lovers, who have been assigned to terminate the wife (Vanessa Ferlito) of a big-time gang boss (Stephen Dorff) after she may have slept with another man. Things change, however, when Mirren finds that the wife is pregnant, and she refuses to take the life of the baby as well. All three leave that night to make new lives for themelves, always on the run from the Dorff's role as the gang boss.Sounds like a simple plot, but Lee Daniels really went all out. "Shadowboxer" is kind of like a strobe light in that you know you should look away as to not damage your eyes, but it's captivating and reels you in to the point where you cannot tear your eyes away.Cuba Gooding Jr. apparently has less then 40 lines in the film, but he's got a presence on screen, which I suppose I can measure to Javier Bardem's role in "No Country for Old Men". Both are strong, imposing, and almost dead silent men who offer a strange mix of sensuality and power. Cuba's chemistry with Helen Mirren, who plays not only his step-mother but his lover, is both believable and fascinating. You don't see many younger African American men with older White women, which was a strong contrast throughout the film.The same is with J.G. Levitt's character of Dr. Don, whose girlfriend is played by Monique. Levitt and Monique show us their amazing acting skill as they makes that otherwise strange relationship believable.Finally Stephen Dorff plays the badguy, and what a badguy he was. His arrogant, ruthless on-screen persona is intimidating and frightening. He swears, kills, yet you can't help but like him, even as he tries to kill his own wife. Ferlito was very good as well. Her relationship with the duo that almost killed her is another strong contrast.In a phrase, "I loved it". The cinematography was beautiful and kept me tied in. The music was captivating. I'll be sure to watch this one again, and soon. I hope you will also.

Andrew DiMonte (NoArrow) "Shadowboxer" is a strange movie, perhaps one of the strangest I've seen, and although it doesn't quite work it's still worth watching if you want to see a filmmaker take huge risks, fail, but still succeed at making something...unique. It's the kind of movie that's best to watch late at night, falling asleep. In that dreary state its numerous quirks and idiosyncrasies may make more sense, may seem connected, while enriched by your imagination.Like many Lynch or Jarmusch films it's a genre piece with a hand-made feel, which adds a certain surreal quality to it. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as slave/lover to his stepmom, played by Helen Mirren. She's a super assassin, and so is he. They get hired by lunatic crime boss Stephen Dorff to knock off his wife for him, but when Mirren (who's dying of Movie Cancer) sees that the wife (Vanessa Ferlito) is pregnant, she takes mercy. Her, Gooding and Ferlito run off together, forming a strange family unit, while Dorff goes on for years believing the job's been done.The bulk of the movie takes place in the house shared by Mirren, Gooding, Ferlito and eventually her newborn son. Fuelled primarily by Mirren's desire for some sort of redemption they're forced to bond, and bond they do, although the characters are so underwritten the movie is forced to rely on the personalities of its actors to make up for it. This works to various degrees...Gooding ultimately comes off the best, he's far too good-natured to play a badass, but that's sort of the point.Mostly the movie is about people constrained by their own horrifying natures. Greed, lust and hatred are the overwhelming emotions, although as the family unit progresses they're slowly joined by loyalty, tenderness and even, sort of, love. Gooding finds an unexpected companion in Ferlito's son and Mirren squeezes some real feeling into the tail end of a life that seems bereft of it. Dorff is his own worst victim, as is made clear when he meets his son for the first time.And everything - even the deepest recesses of Gooding's quiet character - is made clear by the end, but to very little effect. The movie is not convincing enough for us to believe wholeheartedly in this new family, but occasionally an idea or a feeling will seep through and find us. Director Lee Daniels, who's said his heroes are Jon Waters and Pedro Almodovor, should direct more to his tastes rather than the hip hop/martial arts implications of the movie's title. As a thriller, this film is limp.But as a drama, it could've worked.6/10

revsolly ...to find something to like about this movie. However, I came away from it realizing that it was just time that I would never get back. I can think of nothing good about this film.Is Cuba good in this film? Maybe - as far as the role can go.Is Helen any good in this film? She was just that - Helen Mirren - nothing special. Extremely low key.How about Steven Dorff? Oh great! Another psychotic! And one that we get to see bang some cheapo slut. That's worth the admission (rolls eyes).Levitt & Mo'nique? The only couple odder than Mirren & Gooding. I could almost believe Mirren & Gooding.This film debases everybody in it. It debases us for even watching it. The nudity basically sums up to seeing a WHOLE lot more of Gooding than anybody needed, Dorff proving that he can have sex & immediately kill somebody (why need clothes for that?) & just the thought of Levitt & Mo'nique (Arrgh!).Was the sex/murder scene in the garden supposed to be some kind of mood homage to Excalibur (which Helen was in)? I can hear the conversation now: "So, Cuba. We're going to have you having sex with this women 30 years older than you in a field. And then, while you're still in, you'll put a gun to her head & pull the trigger! And then, you bury her in the middle of the night, all the time naked as a jay bird.And then we have the stereotyping of Macy Gray's role. Where was Jessie Jackson for that one?All this doesn't even touch the warping of the young boy. By the end of the movie, he's seen his perceived father cleaning his weapon (in itself, not a bad thing), we are led to believe that he has some understanding of Mikey's "profession" and, finally, he gets to kill his real father. That look in his face at the end warns of a future serial killer well in the making.Please, save yourself. Leave this "film" alone. Let it die. It won't be a dignified death but, at least it will die.