Champs

Running time: 91 mins

A powerful look at the lives and dreams of boxing’s heaviest hitters, including Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Bernard Hopkins. Director Bert Marcus brilliantly examines what it means to pursue the American Dream through boxing. Long considered "the poor man's sport," boxing has a long-standing tradition of giving kids in the roughest neighborhoods opportunities to re-channel their aggression and give them a place to go, other than the streets. But in the ring come new struggles, for which many are ill-equipped to handle, and many succumb to the pressure. Sharing intimate details of their careers and lives, the legends featured in Champs give honest and uncensored interviews that blend superbly with classic fight footage, reenactments, and candid interviews with the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent. Insightful and provocative, Champs is not simply a boxing movie, but an impactful allegory about the struggle to overcome the odds in the face of inequality. - Michael Rabehl