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An interesting critic of "Scorpion" :
Written by Lex Walker
Thursday, 02 October 2008
I don’t particularly watch sports on TV. I can’t stand baseball. Football sportscasters annoy the hell out of me. I can only watch soccer if it’s on a Telemundo channel – because again, the sportscasters annoy me, so at least when it’s in Spanish I can pretend they’re having profoundly deep philosophical conversations about the nature of the game. With that said, believe me when I say I don’t seek out sports (games/movies/etc.) In fact, when it comes to mixed martial arts, my only real experience is through film and how far those films deviate from the Karate Kid Standard. In this instance, Scorpion deviates quite sharply but in ways that I appreciate wholeheartedly.
On the rise to mixed martial arts fame, Angelo (Clovis Cornillac) finds himself passed over for his practice partner and rival to represent his training company. A resentful Angelo storms out and leaves nothing but harsh feelings in his wake only to find himself facing down a few of his ex-friends in an alleyway. The first of many brutal fights ensue and Angelo finds himself kneeling over the beaten corpse of his opponent. Choosing not to run – he takes the jail sentence that will change his life.
Six years pass.
Released from prison, Angelo is scraggly, scruffy, out of work and out of shape. When an old friend sets him up to work as a fighter for a rich nightclub owner, Angelo finds himself mixed up in a mess far over his head. All the while pursuing a woman who’s sworn off his rough and tumble type.
It would seem, in a movie about mixed martial arts, that the fight scenes are more important than all else. If that’s the case, Scorpion goes above and beyond the call of its genre. With decent performances by all actors, Scorpion comes across as equal parts brutal machismo and genuine drama – even Disney’s lame sports films have yet to perfect such a formula.
The fight scenes deserve special mention as instead of dropping frames to make the action seem faster and more intense – they show entire sequences for all the brutality such a vision imparts. Faces smeared in blood, knuckles raw from splitting foreign bone agonized expressions of exhaustion. Scorpion captures the elements surrounding the life of Angelo’s fighting as well as the ostensible factors you’d expect from a fight film.
While not quite at the cult classic level of fight films like, say, Blood Sport, Scorpion still manages to deliver in ways that the more recent and hyped Never Back Down neglected. While training montages have their place – sorry, HAD their place (i.e. any Rocky movie, or the Karate Kid) – Scorpion forgoes that route in favor of scene after scene of actual fighting. Yeah, there are a few clips of training here and there, but it’s often downplayed with other characters talking over it to further the plot.
Clovis Cornillac does his part to keep the film engaging and interesting. His expressions are rather simplistic as his role requires – though I’m not sure if it was intended or stems from a genuine shortcoming of his acting ability. The character of Angelo doesn’t require all the much as it’s really the surrounding characters who add the weight to the story. As is said in the movie, Angelo is, for all intents and purposes, just a pawn. Pawn’s don’t need much expression, especially when the pawn’s main duty is hand to hand combat. That look of pain/anger is all you really need.
As I said, it’s really the supporting cast who deserve credit for keeping Scorpion afloat. Karole Rocher, as Virginie, plays the troubled single mother who at first gets Angelo back in the game then dumps him with a revelation of financed affection. Francis Renaud, the other half of the main cast, doesn’t quite hold his own on the screen but for a weasel you can’t expect too much. Scorpion benefits by keeping the shots of drama broken up between captivating moments of brutality. Had director Julien Seri composed it any other way Scorpion would feel either bloated with poorly acted drama or empty with little substance. Scorpion dances a fine line and comes out on top.
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