Review: In 'Bruised,' Halle Berry's performance as a grizzled MMA fighter is the best thing in her uneven directing debut
In “Bruised,” Halle Berry has finally found a director who can challenge her, to push her to a performance that rivals her Oscar-winning work in “Monster’s Ball” 20 years ago — and that director’s name is (checks notes) Halle Berry.
Berry plays Jackie Justice, an MMA fighter who once had a promising career, with 10 wins and no losses before a catastrophic fight where she climbed out of the ring. As the movie begins, Jackie is cleaning rich people’s houses, and living with her abusive boyfriend/manager, Desi (Adan Canto), hiding booze in a spray bottle under the sink.
As her life is hitting rock bottom, two things re-enter her life. One is Manny (Danny Boyd Jr.), the child she gave up as a baby, who’s back because his daddy was killed. The other is a shot at returning to the UFC, the main league for MMA fighters, thanks to a charismatic promoter, Immaculate (Shamier Anderson), who wants to sign Jackie for a shot at the flyweight champ.
Jackie works to juggle caring for Manny while committing to sparring sessions with Immaculate’s top trainer, Buddhakan (Sheila Atim). Dealing with both forces Jackie to examine the worst parts of her life — namely, her arrangement with Desi and her relationship with her mother, Angel (Adriane Lenox). She quickly realizes that what’s most important is protecting Manny, who, like Jackie, has seen his share of trauma in his six years on this planet.
In her directing debut, Berry shows she can place a camera well and let scenes play out for maximum dramatic impact — particularly in the climactic fight scene, which is expertly staged. Berry also has an eye for casting, particularly in picking Atim, a Ugandan-born British actor whose striking beauty and dramatic intensity suggest big things in her future.
The weak link is the script, by rookie screenwriter Michelle Rosenfarb, which recycles every boxing and child cliche this side of Wallace Beery in “The Champ” (1931), as well as every poverty and addiction trope a semi-knowledgeable movie buff can recognize.
The best thing about “Bruised” is that Berry, deglamorizing herself to show the bumps and cuts of being an MMA fighter, delivers a performance that’s powerful both in its physicality and its emotional impact. It will be fascinating to see what Berry’s got up her sleeve for her follow-up.
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‘Bruised’
★★1/2
Opened Wednesday, November 17, in theaters; available for streaming Wednesday, November 24, on Netflix. Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content/nudity and violence. Running time: 129 minutes.