“HANDS OF STONE” is out next week, the latest trailer just dropped, and it does show some promise, but some concern as well. This film covers the life and career of Roberto Duran looked to be played very well by Edgar Ramirez. He is a talented actor and should be able to breath great life into the famous character he is portraying.
This trailer also shows more footage of Usher Raymond as Sugar Ray Leonard, in whats looks to be another great casting choice. The looks and feels the part and with his talents I have confidence he, like Ramirez, will have put the necessary effort into pouring themselves into the roles.
The major concerns for this film in my mind are its script. I glanced at the run-time and honestly 95 min for a biopic feels a little short to me. It will be interesting to see the window of time this story wants to cover and my hopes are it doesn’t try to tell too much. A bullet-point biopic will be a let down but if the script has focus and can tell the story it wants with organization, it can be successful.
It will be interesting to see if this film will be more drama than sports drama, and from this trailer it looks like both the lives of Duran and Leonard will be covered so it will be interesting to see the amount of the in-the-ring action this movie will deliver. With such a strong cast the characters should be well fleshed out and conveyed realistically and I truly hope the story follows suit.
This film could be a great one but something about it worries more than the common boxing movie and I still cant place my finger on it. Also this Red Band trailer coming out and looking to mainly showcase some nudity from the ever topless Ana de Armas and an Usher butt-shot was mildly worrisome. I got the sense of it developing the characters of Duran and Leonard but it didn’t really reveal anything more about the story other than some character motivation developing, which was a rather common look.
It will be interesting to see how this film will fair next week when it is released. I have my screening passes for this Tuesday and I will be there ready for a compelling sports drama covering two of the best lightweight boxers the world has seen. With De Niro, Ramirez and Raymond filling the lead, and smaller performances from John Turturro, Ellen Barkin and Ruben Bladés, there is nothing but potential for an intriguing sports biopic.
Release Date: 26, August 2016