![]() “Bruised” scuttles past that intriguing gambit toward a perplexing array of narratives. An independent promoter with conflicting intentions, he wants to go toe-to-toe with the UFC, and he thinks Jackie can be his ticket. The confrontation brings her to the attention of Immaculate ( Shamier Anderson). But when a hulking opponent goads the tentative Jackie, a newly enraged Jackie-in a whirling combination of punches and canted angles -makes mincemeat of her in the most visceral tussle of the film. She accompanies Desi to an unsanctioned underground fight to scout a potential brawler. ![]() “Bruised” opens with a sharp jab by plunging Jackie back into the MMA world. It’s not until Manny (Danny Boyd Jr.), the six-year-old son she gave up for adoption returns, after the sudden death of his father, that she rediscovers her fighting spirit.īerry’s “Bruised” is a familiar comeback tale relying on the inner-city motifs of 1990s hood films to deliver a melodramatic, barely coherent prestige vehicle with very little to say about MMA itself. No one knows why Jackie tried to escape from the octagon years ago. She keeps a spray bottle of alcohol hidden underneath the kitchen sink. Jackie is a has-been, a never-was, and a could’ve-been all rolled into one. Six years later, long after the banners have come down and the crowds have stopped cheering, she is a nanny, living with her blowhard boyfriend and manager, Desi ( Adan Canto). Fear coils her every labored breath as the camera fades to black. The ringside announcers’ faint, echoed voices mark the drama: The formidable Jackie Justice (Halle Berry) isn’t just overmatched she’s literally on the run, trying to scale the caged barrier to flee the contest. It’s an MMA title bout set in the unforgiving octagon. ![]() Halle Berry’s directorial debut, “Bruised,” an unfocused inspirational sports story, opens with a hazy point of view shot, capturing a fighter in panic.
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