
Rose (Helen Mirren) and Mickey (Cuba Gooding Jr.) are contract killers, and due to her cancer, Rose decides that next hit will be her last. They are hired to kill a mob boss’ (Stephen Dorff) pregnant wife, but all doesn’t go as planned as the wife goes on labor as Rose enters her room. In a quick onset of remorse for the life she’s lived Rose decides to help deliver the baby and take the mother and baby to safety. Which really isn’t something hitmen should do..
Shadowboxer is a beautifully acted crime drama. There is no surprise that this didn’t succeed in the box office, as this is the kind of a thriller I like, the kind that isn’t in hurry of going anywhere. There are no exciting chases or bad guys constantly hunting for the good guys. They are simply telling a well acted story that is interesting to follow. That being said, I’m not so sure there are good guys period. Rose does make a “right” choice at beginning of the movie, but that’s after she already knows that she’s going to die soon and has started to think about her life and possible afterlife. That is just what makes this movie good, it’s a story about flawed people (as we all are) trying to live in their life for the best they know.
Rose: [to Vicki] Feeling protected is very seductive.
One reason why this movie might have been left in the forgotten realm, is that maybe the studio didn’t fully believe in it’s possibility to succeed. There is quite an unheard of starring couple as older woman with a young black lover, but it is beautiful to see Gooding and Mirren together they really bring a lot of character to their roles. They are the main reason the movie works.
Supporting cast also compliment the main actors nicely, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from 3rd Rock for the Sun fame) playing the doctor and Mo’Nique playing his nurse/girlfriend. Another coupling that is rarely seen outside the comedy plots, young white male with very overweight black girl, and in this they play it straight which is very nice to see. Rest of the cast is rounded of with Stephen Dorff as the crime boss, the beautiful Vanessa Ferlito (played “Butterfly” in Tarantino’s Deathproof) as the wife and the always zany Macy Gray playing the wife’s best friend.
If you don’t need 100-miles-per-minute action from your movies, this is definitely worth picking up. Beautiful images with great actors and an adequate script is more than you can say about most movies. And this is definitely something original, although the basic plot is quite familiar, the details and characters are something you’ve not seen before.
Rating: 4 / 5
Shadowboxer on IMDB.com
Shadowboxer trailer on Youtube.com

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