BRAWLER

Competitive fighting has been apart of the movie scene for nearly as long as I can remember it. There are several movies that have secured a fond memory and several that were just flat out ridiculous. Thankfully, Brawler doesn’t fall into that second category.

The story revolves around two brothers; Charlie and Bobby Fontaine. Both are fighters who fight onboard a ship just off the coast of New Orleans. Obviously the fights aren’t sanctioned, nor legal, but that doesn’t mean they don’t follow some sort of rule set.

Most of the fighting movies decide that the only way to finish a fight is to render your opponent unconscious or just flat out kill him. Brawler allows for fighters to tap out by way of a submission, which is impressive considering there isn’t a ref to stop the fight when a tap does happen.

Before diving deeper into the realness of the fighting scenes, the plot needs to be addressed. Bobby, the younger brother, is of course reckless and doesn’t always play by the book. He’s involved in several illegal activities and owes the wrong people money. Charlie of course seems to have his life together.

When Bobby’s dealings catch up with him, a group of thugs come to send him a message by beating him up and destroying his property. Charlie comes running to the rescue and the two brothers clear the house of their attackers. As they are leaving, one comes back and hits Charlie square in the knee with his paddle, ending what was potentially a career in fighting.

Charlie takes a job in construction while Bobby’s dealings seem to spiral worse and worse. Unbeknownst to Charlie, Bobby spends time with Charlie’s wife and winds up sleeping with her. Charlie comes home to see the two together and all hell breaks loose between the two brothers.

The fight is separated and the challenge was thrown down by Charlie that he could beat him anywhere. Thus, Charlie gets back into training for a fight against his brother.

The message was clear from the start of the movie and was delivered well throughout. Charlie would do anything to protect his brother, even if it included fighting him. Bobby of course doesn’t come to realize this until the end of the film.

The fighting in the movie is very well done. While the fights don’t seem to have many rules, other than win by knockout or tapout, it was good to see mostly realistic moves being performed. There were of course a couple of things that were either unlikely or unbelievable, but overall it was well done. The big complaint I had was Bobby was clearly proficient in performing armbars as shown in a previous fight, yet when he was being strangled ala Homer Simpson to Bart Simpson, he didn’t even try to attack the limb.

Overall the movie was entertaining and enjoyable.

Rating:R

Genre:Action

Run time:85 minutes

Director:Chris Sivertson

Starring:Nathan Grubbs, Marc Senter, Bryan Batt, Michael Bowen, Pell James, Lance E. Nichols, Megan Henning, Laura Cayouette

Screenplay:Chris Sivertson

Story:Chris Sivertson, Nathan Grubbs

Producer:Nathan Grubbs, Marc Senter

Line Producer:Paul Knaus

Original Music:Tim Rutili

Cinematography:Zoran Popovic

Film Editing:Abe Levy, Phil Norden

Casting:Brent Caballero, Jory Weitz

Production Design:Denise Greenwood, Sandra McDougall-Mitchell

Art Direction:James Shoepflin

Costume Design:Shareen Chehade

Unit Production Manager:Laura Singleterry

First Assistant Director:Alisa Fredericks

Second Assistant Director (As Bryn Hubbard):Bryn Scott Hubbard

First Assistant Director:David S. White

Production Assistant:James Casteel

Conceptual Designer:Jacob Hair

Construction Coordinator:A. Terry Mitchell

Foley Artist:Tara Blume

Sound Mixer:Mitch Cry

Dialogue Editor:Jackie Johnson

Sound Effects Editor:Peter D. Lago

Foley Artist:Tara Blume

Sound Mixer:Mitch Cry

Dialogue Editor:Jackie Johnson

Sound Effects Editor:Peter D. Lago

Foley Mixer:Greg Mauer

Sound Mixer:Antonio Moncada

Sound Recordist:Owen Peterson

Boom Operator:Michael Roth

Dialogue Editor:Bryon Speller

Adr Mixer:Billy Theriot

Sound Recordist:Steven Utt

Sound Re Recording Mixer:Kelly Vandever

Adr Mixer:Ben Whitver

Boom Operator:Jessy Cale Williamson

Adr Editor:Brian S.M. Wroth

Dialogue Editor:Brian S.M. Wroth

Digital Intermediate Executive Producer:Micah Gallo

Supervising Digital Compositor: Lit Post:Christopher Grandel

Additional Digital Colorist: Lit Post:Tyler A. Hawes

Digital Intermediate Supervisor: Lit Post:Tyler A. Hawes

Visual Effects Supervisor: Lit Post:Tyler A. Hawes

Digital Intermediate Conform Editor: Lit Post:Gustavo Mendes

Digital Intermediate Colorist: Lit Post:Eliot Milbourn

Digital Intermediate Producer:Scott Purdy

Account Executive: Lit Post:Geno Tazioli

Stunt Double: Nathan Grubbs:John Bernecker

Stunt Performer:Brannon Galmon, Jacob Kabel, Raymond Rehage, Carlos Socorro, Tony Vo

Stunt Actor:Oren Hawxhurst

Stunt Coordinator:Michael R. Long

Fights Choreographer:Garrik Palumbo

Stunt Double: Marc Senter:Garrik Palumbo, Ross Morgan Ruben

Stunt Double: Garret Hines:Bill Scharpf

Fight Adviser:Dustin Wilkins

Camera Operator:Chris Heinrich

Cinematographer: Additional Photography:Chris Heinrich

Gaffer:Jeff Holman

First Assistant Camera:Kevin Hughes

Best Boy Electric:John E. Leary

Gaffer:John E. Leary

Second Assistant Camera:Loui J. Le Roy

Rigging Gaffer:Timothy Robert Ryan

Electrician:Joe Sökmen

Additional Second Assistant Camera:Stanley Wong

Extras Casting Assistant:Emily Cornay

Extras Casting Intern:Ashley Hollier

Extras Casting:Jeremy Evan Kerr

Costumer:Katey Ravencraft

Assistant Editor:Tolu Oluwadiya, Stanley Wong

Set Production Assistant:Frank Barnett

Ket Set Production Assistant:Hannah Bollich

Key Medic:Matthew Ford

Production Counsel:Briana C. Hill, David Albert Pierce

Script Supervisor:Christina Killelea

Boxing Trainer: Los Angeles:Pepe Reilly

Location Scout:Valerie Ryan

Special Thanks:John Carchietta, Adam Goldworm, Ben Gorman, Rian Johnson, Edward Mc Gurn, Lucky Mc Kee, Bryan Walsh, Ti West

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Brawler
Based on true events, BRAWLER is the gripping tale of two brothers caught in the web of a vicious, bone-breaking underground “fight club” set on mob-run New Orleans riverboats. After a devastating personal betrayal, the once-inseparable brothers go head-to-head in a fight to the death.