Academy Award-winner Halle Berry's new film, Bruised, is better than most of the entries in her filmography and exponentially superior to her last movie in which her unfit mom character gave a son up for adoption. It's also better than most previous female fighter flicks. It's better than Girlfight and certainly better than The Next Karate Kid; it even surpasses Million Dollar Baby.
Putting the directorial pizzazz aside, Bruised also features Halle's best performance since Boomerang. She might actually be a top contender for the upcoming Oscar race for her work here. This isn't just the typical move of a pretty star ugging up for a role; the former Miss Ohio genuinely disappears into the part. For his part, up-and-coming actor Shamier Anderson continues to impress as well.
Halle's washed-up MMA fighter, Jackie Justice (yeah, the same last name as her ex-husband, former MLB superstar David Justice), destroyed her career by climbing outta the ring during a losing effort in a UFC match, going from undefeated to unwanted and cleaning toilets for rich pricks. She's even sunk to obsessively drinking alcohol from a spray bottle. Jackie captures the attention of a big-time promoter after pita-rolling a roided up giantess in an unplanned basement brawl and later gets a second chance at both the fight game and motherhood when her own mom shows up on her stoop with the kid she abandoned six years earlier.
I gotta give a trigger warning. There is an element of manbashing in the film, including: a revelation about multiple abusers; a juvenile peeping tom; and a violent boyfriend.
Berry's appeared in some real garbage movies over the years but this isn't one of them. She recently revealed that she'd like another crack at a Catwoman movie and I initially that that idea was as trash as the 2004 film. But after seeing Bruised, I think it just might be worth a shot -- if Halle directs.
Available on Netflix on November 24.
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