Resurrecting the Champ

Rating PG13 Formats DVD Genre drama Starring Josh Hartnett, Samuel L. Jackson Directed by Rod Lurie Publisher Phoenix Pictures External Links Official Resurrecting the Champ Website

I am often hesitant to go see or rent a sports movie. Ever since Remember the Titans, all sports movies seem to be the same to me. There's some sort of underdog player or team, frequently race or gender is involved, and they overcome some seemingly impossible feat. Resurrecting the Champ proved me wrong about my contemporary sports movie stigma. Most movies appeal to our emotions (or bore us) with an amazing rags to riches story. This plot is different because it examines an athlete's riches to rags story. Nobody really taps into what happens to the long lost, 'has been' athletes when they disappear from the spotlight.

Josh Hartnett (Eric) and Samuel L. Jackson (The Champ) star in this true story. Hartnett finds himself struggling in his family life and journalism career at the Denver Times. His boss lectures him about how all of his sports stories have been lacking interest and heart. Everything changes for Eric when he runs into an old bum getting beat up by a group of guys. Instinctively Eric checks on him to see if the man who calls himself The Champ is okay. Although he seems crazy, one thing is for sure: The Champ knows boxing inside and out.

Eric gets to know The Champ, which provides him with the perfect opportunity to write a heartfelt, intriguing story. The Champ (whom everyone thinks is dead), tells his stories with a series of flashbacks. As the two men spend more and more time together, the compassion in their relationship is undeniable. On several different occasions Champ finds himself getting beat up, and Jackson's performance will give you goose bumps. You discover how both men need each other to fulfill an empty chunk of their lives. By resurrecting Champ, Eric gets the chance he needs to revive himself.

Eric reaches a bump in the road, and his integrity as a journalism is questioned. Resurrecting the Champ has some truly valuable themes throughout the plot. When something goes wrong, you can't give up because it's an opportunity to make things right. Hartnett and Jackson play their characters so consistently. I recommend this movie to anyone. It is a story about finding pride within yourself and how beauty comes from the truth.