From abject poverty to becoming a ten-time boxing world champion, congressman, and international icon, Manny Pacquiao is the true definition of a Cinderella story. In the Philippines, he first entered the ring as a sixteen-year-old weighing ninety-eight pounds with the goal of earning money to feed his family. Now, almost twenty years later, when he fights, the country of 100 million people comes to a complete standstill to watch. Regarded for his ability to bring people together, Pacquiao entered the political arena in 2010. As history’s first boxing congressman, Pacquiao now fights for his people both inside and outside of the ring. Now at the height of his career, he is faced with maneuvering an unscrupulous sport while maintaining his political duties. The question now is, what bridge is too far for Manny Pacquiao to cross?
Even as a promotional piece, Manny is too thin a nonfiction portrait of Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest boxers of the modern era and the only one in history to win titles in eight different weight classes.
– Nick Schager,
Village Voice,
21 Jan 2015
rotten:
Only a fool would say it to his face, but eight-time divisional boxing champ Manny (Pacman) Pacquiao has a limp swing as a documentary subject.
– Jordan Hoffman,
New York Daily News,
22 Jan 2015
rotten:
Banal, stentorian narration by Liam Neeson ("Once victory is stolen from you, what are you left with?") mostly gives the sense that it's the viewer being carried around the ring.
– Ben Kenigsberg,
New York Times,
22 Jan 2015
rotten:
It makes for a choppy, unsatisfying portrait when any topic outside the worshipful career momentum and expected dazzling fight footage - personal demons, his growth in a corrupt sport, the weight of being an icon - is addressed.