Nineteen-year-old Danny Flynn is imprisoned for his involvement with the I.R.A. in Belfast. He leaves behind his family and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Maggie Hamill. Fourteen years later, Danny is released from prison and returns to his old working class neighborhood to resume his life as a boxer.
The critic dutifully tabulated each blunt plot point, each refried cliche.. And yet, when Danny's nemesis did something monstrously rotten, the critic was so enraged by the dastardly act that he had to stop himself from spitting his candy.
– Richard Corliss,
TIME Magazine,
14 May 2013
fresh:
With Watson and Day-Lewis you can almost feel the heat, and their situation never feels contrived or artificial.
– Paul Clinton (CNN.com),
CNN.com,
14 May 2013
fresh:
If The Boxer doesn't quite score a knockout, that's because of such flaws as the too-sketchy development of the character of Maggie's son, who turns out to be pivotal. But the movie carries the day by aiming its strongest punches straight at the heart.
– Jay Boyar,
Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2013
fresh:
Day-Lewis has the ability to make the will to nonviolence look positively volcanic. And Watson, with her 200-watt incandescence, makes longing look radiant.
– Carrie Rickey,
Philadelphia Inquirer,
14 May 2013
fresh:
In each film he makes, Day-Lewis seems to adopt a new persona.