Hands of Stone

Hands of Stone is a pleasant surprise for those willing to regress in time to experience the heights of boxing. Way before internet, there was a time and a place when events like boxing happened, specially when Roberto Duran fought, Panama would come to a stand still. Everyone was tuned into their television for the occasion. When he won, you would hear the country erupt in glee of victory with people sounding their pots & pans. The film showcases those days in an adequate manner. Yes there is the usual clichés happening, but the film's energy transcends those usual predictable story plot point to keep you engage enough to care for the characters. The time capsule through the production design and soundtrack made this film a delight to watch. There is a vast array of subliminal messages from the director, Well come to think of it, its not so subliminal as you see in the ring corners advertising to "Invest in Venezuela". Im sure this obvious product placement was a plea by the director and/or the Venezuelan team working on the film for the audience to take notice of the current situation Venezuelans are living. This strategy has been duly noted. The international cast serves the film well and brings the essence of Duran journey to life. Ruben Blades vintage soundtracks adds an unequal energy to the scenes boosting the film above your usual boxing flick. Hands of Stone is better served watching it on the big screen to truly appreciate the scope of the film.

source: Hands of Stone

I just finished watching the movie not so long ago, it was a great movie. Enjoyed very bit of it. But one thing that bugged me, that the boxer's wife, felicidad (Ana de armas) don't get me wrong, I love every bit of her scenes i really do. But I wish it showed showed more (then usual) of her as well. Cause felicidad is one of the most important characters of the whole movie. And most important to her husband. Still. I love Ana De armas. She's one of most favorites. She did great in hands of stones. Also love her in knives out, blade runner 2049, overdrive & in knock knock so far. Again, great movie & also great leading lady.

I didn't know Ropert Duran before, coz i am not fan of boxing, but i enjoy in the film, the only difference between it and Creed is the marketing. The performance also was great from all cast. if you want to know who is Duran, you can watch the film in 2 hours and you will know one of the greatest boxers in history.

Durans biography is a great story and for the most part is a good movie, but it could of been so much better, one of the greats even... And it all comes down to the directing... The movie is hard to connect with in the first 20 minutes and the voice audio is somewhat drowned out by the background audio, which obviously doesn't help in that regard either... It does slowly start getting better and a lot more engaging... The biggest downfall is the fights unfortunately, which is meant to be the best part of a fight movie, the camera is zoomed in that close you can't really tell whats going on half the time...? Honestly how can anyone think its good to film fight scenes like that is beyond me...

Good boxing movie about the life of Roberto Duran. Very strong performance by Edgar Ramirez who captures Roberto Duran perfectly. The movies biggest flaws lay with certain plot points not being developed enough such as Ray Arcel's heroin addicted daughter barely appearing before not being mentioned again (should have probably just left that sub plot out the movie). Another one is the death of Chaflan, we don't spend enough time seeing him to really feel any impact when he is run over so the scene has little depth.

Colorful, energetic biopic showing how Roberto Duran's hatred of US troops occupying his native Panama motivated him to become a national hero and lightweight world champ by beating Sugar Ray Leonard. Avuncular Robert De Niro masterfully plays the fighter's long-suffering trainer, with whom Duran is constantly at odds, but to whom he ultimately gives in and triumphs because of it. Edgar Ramirez is terrific as the impulsive' hot-headed boxer whose bad attitude goes far beyond just anti-Americanism, but who, in the end, realizes that, paradoxically, he owes his career to his trainer, an American, and he's OK with that. Usher is as charismatic as was Sugar Ray, whom he plays brilliantly. A feel-good flick, happily devoid of the sappy heart-string yanks so often associated with fight films.

I was incredibly excited when I found out that there was a Roberto Duran movie coming out. Being a humongous fan of Duran and being a huge boxing fan of the 80's and 90's, I was looking forward to this. Man, watching this film and I went in with so much excitment only to be terribly disappointed. It was awful, all over the place, forgettable acting, poor boxing sequences. The director took a whole bunch of creative license with Duran's life that I honestly don't know what was real or not. I honestly thought everything was made up and nothing was real. So, Hands of Stone and Bleed For This both came out around the same year or close to it and both did extremely poorly at the box office which shows that real life boxing movies just don't do well in comparison to fictional boxing movies because fictional boxing movies allow for more, much more creative freedom. Also, I did not need to see Usher's Butt cheeks on my TV screen. He played Sugar Ray Leonard in the film. Avoid.

It's an excellent movie, The Drama, the life of Roberto, the problems between USA and Panama are very well explained in this movie, Robert De Niro plays Ray Arcel at the perfection, also did Edgar and Usher with Duran and Sugar Ray, they make a really nice copy between the best boxers of those years, for me the movie was great, note the budget that they use to do it...I came to the cinema to see a good movie and it leave me with a really nice impression!! If you want to see full actions in the fights this is not the right movie, but they change all the action for the camera movements and the focus on the reactions of the boxers, It's a nice way to make the movie closer to the emotions...

What deplorable behavior outside the ring, disrespectful to the coach, unsportsmanlike to opponents, disgusting to his wife, and a doubtful example for his children, almost an anti hero, illiteracy does not justify such behavior, I was never able to root for him in the fights... Panama deserved a better idol ... However, a great movie ...