Explosive
Summary
From Walter Hill, who clearly was inspired by Mike Tyson’s notorious stint in prison (for rape, incidentally), Undisputed is just about everything you could ask for with a premise of this type and a cast this good. Both Snipes and Rhames are exactly on point in their roles, though Snipes has much less dialogue and screen time, giving Rhames the more brash and exhibitionist role as the big bucks fighter. The supporting cast is great too; watch for Fisher Stevens as “Ratbag,” the scuzzy manager of Snipes’ character. The film is entertaining and well written, and still resonates today, more than 20 years later.
Plot: The undisputed heavy boxing champ goes to prison … and must face off with the undisputed boxing champ of the prison circuit.
Review: The undisputed heavyweight champion of the world is George “Iceman” Chambers (Ving Rhames in his prime) who is accused of rape (which appears to be a shakedown), and a jury finds him guilty, plus a civil suit is filed against him by his accuser for 75 million, putting him in a terrible position where he not only has to do hard time for at least four years, but he’ll have to settle out of court with his accuser. What Chambers doesn’t realize is that the prison he’s sent to is the home of Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes, also in his prime), an undisputed boxing champion in the prison boxing circuit with upwards of forty matches – all wins – to his credit. It is immediately obvious to everyone that these two titans will have to fight each other, but first Chambers must announce to all the inmates that he is top dog and everything must be on his terms and to his liking before he agrees to a fight. With his cellmate (played by Wes Studi) acting as his manager of sorts, Chambers aggravates the warden and his underlings (watch for Michael Rooker) with his constant fighting, but when the prison’s resident old school gangster and boxing expert (played by a surly Peter Falk) manages to be the mediator between the two undisputed champs, the match is pulled together with the condition that Chambers will get a huge payout, plus an early parole, for his participation, and Hutchen will merely get a cut of the payout for his family because he has no hope of ever being paroled. When the fight happens, there can only be one undisputed champion.
From Walter Hill, who clearly was inspired by Mike Tyson’s notorious stint in prison (for rape, incidentally), Undisputed is just about everything you could ask for with a premise of this type and a cast this good. Both Snipes and Rhames are exactly on point in their roles, though Snipes has much less dialogue and screen time, giving Rhames the more brash and exhibitionist role as the big bucks fighter. The supporting cast is great too; watch for Fisher Stevens as “Ratbag,” the scuzzy manager of Snipes’ character. The film is entertaining and well written, and still resonates today, more than 20 years later. The story of Iceman Chambers continues with the first immediate sequel Undisputed II, with Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins (which is fantastic), and the series continued with Adkins as the mixed martial arts fighter Boyka.
Kino Lorber brings Undisputed to 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray in a two-disc combo pack, and the film looks great in a brand new 4K scan. The film comes with an audio commentary by Mike Leeder, a new interview with Walter Hill, two archival interviews with Rhames and Snipes, and the trailer, and a slipcover.