Unlike the MPAA we do not assign
one
inscrutable rating based on age, but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE
and PROFANITY on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest,
depending on quantity and context.
A high school girl (Michelle Rodriguez) living with her
troubled family in the projects uses her rage and frustration to fuel her emerging career
in the boxing ring. Also with Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderon, Santiago Douglas, Ray
Santiago, Elisa Bocanegra, Shannon Walker Williams, Iris Little Thomas, John Sayles and
Thomas Barbour. [1:50]
SEX/NUDITY 3 - Several instances of sexual innuendo (including a somewhat
graphic reference to fellatio) and several kisses (a couple of which are passionate). A
boy pushes a girl backwards onto a bed and lies on top of her; they kiss passionately a
bit, he kisses her stomach briefly, then they hold each other and presumably fall asleep
(his bare chest is visible). We see some bare-chested male boxers.
VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - Many boxing matches (most are training sessions, shown
briefly, but a few are extended "real" matches). During the matches we see
several shoves and lots of punches, mostly to the face and stomach (a girl is also hit
"below the belt" twice); some of the punches are very powerful and we see a
couple of people knocked down, but we rarely see any wounds or cuts as a result (twice we
see a girl with a black eye, and twice we briefly see a small, slightly bloody scratch on
a boxer's back). In one scene, a boxer punches another unsuspecting boxer in the nose
after the end of the round; also, a person punches another outside of the ring. A girl
throws another into a locker, pushes her to the floor, and punches and kicks her
repeatedly until a teacher pulls them apart. A girl half-seriously smacks the back of a
boy's neck; also, during a training practice a man lightly but quickly punches a girl
repeatedly, pushing her into the ropes. A girl and man argue and yell a couple of times;
in one scene she purposely throws a plate to the ground, in another scene she pushes him,
and in another scene she pushes him to the ground, kicks him repeatedly, and grabs his
neck, shaking it repeatedly. A reference to spousal abuse and to suicide.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 8 - About 25 F-words, several anatomical references, lots of
scatological references, some mild obscenities, a religious obscenity, and some insults. [profanity glossary]
A CAVEAT: We've gone through several editorial changes since we
started covering films in 1992 and some of our early standards were
not as stringent as they are now. We therefore need to revisit many
older reviews, especially those written prior to 1998 or so; please
keep this in mind if you're consulting a review from that period.
While we plan to revisit and correct older reviews our resources are
limited and it is a slow, time-consuming process.
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