It doesn’t seem likely that filmmakers will ever grow tired of making boxing films, or that they’ll run out of inspiring athletes to make them about. What’s not to love about a boxing film, anyway? The stories are rife with colorful characters, outsize egos, braggadocious smack talk, personal perseverance and lots of blood. They write themselves, practically, and “Bleed for This,” the true story of Vinny Paz (Pazienza), slips easily into the already established oeuvre.
There are times when you almost might wonder if you’re watching another version of “The Fighter,” the David O. Russell film starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The story of a hotheaded New England boxer with a wild family in the 1980s is certainly familiar, though Ciaran Hinds, playing Paz’s father Angelo, bellows, “We’re from Providence!” early on, which helps make the distinction clear. Toto, we’re not in Boston anymore.
The film, written and directed by Ben Younger, follows a fairly standard-issue boxing movie formula: the charismatic and cocky young fighter, the inevitable adversity, the rousing comeback, the down-on-his-luck trainer (a paunchy and bald Aaron Eckhart), the moms and sisters and parade of anonymous girlfriends cheering him on.
The unique thing about Vinny Paz’s story is just how extreme his adversity was — a head-on car wreck that left him with a broken neck and six months with a halo screwed into his skull. They said he might not walk again; he vowed to box again, and he did, through sheer will and poor risk management. Despite the halo screwed into his head, he’s got a screw loose.