The movie “Fighting” is likable in a small-film-kind-of way. It’s not great, nor perhaps the most believable of plots, but it is still entertaining and attention drawing. It involves 20-something Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) from Alabama who lives in N.Y.C. selling wares on the street until he bumps into hustler Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) who introduces him into the underground world of fight clubs as a way of making money. If you’re expecting “Fight Club,” from 1999, you’ll be a bit disappointed. It’s not exactly like that, nor does it have as creative a screenplay, or feature as many fights. In fact, there’s only four in “Fighting.” But they seem pretty good. The actor, Channing Tatum, apparently broke his nose filming one of the fight scenes. So the sequences seem fairly realistic and suspenseful, but not overly scary. The film, after all, is rated PG-13, not R. Terrence Howard is quite good in his role as the kid’s fight manager. And Tatum, whose career seems to be on the rise, looks just fine as the hunky Alabama brawler with a troubled past. There are some nice shots of N.Y.C. (though mostly skyline types) and an upbeat soundtrack that keeps things moving. The filming is not perfect (the boom microphone appears in at least one of the scenes at the top of the screen), but by the end, “Fighting” does manage to throw a small, enjoyable punch.
