Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. WHen these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.
If Hill isn't quite his generation's Don Siegel (or Robert Aldrich), it's because there's no discernible feeling beneath the chest hair; it's all bluster and cliche.
– Michael Atkinson,
Village Voice,
27 Aug 2002
fresh:
A shrewd and splendidly volatile B movie structured around a highly original gambit of suspense.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 Aug 2002
rotten:
Walter Hill's prison-boxing flick Undisputed could have been a great B, but it represents a failure of nerve.
– Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com,
30 Aug 2002
rotten:
Hill looks to be going through the motions, beginning with the pale script.
– Rick Groen,
Globe and Mail,
6 Sep 2002
rotten:
With flashbulb editing as cover for the absence of narrative continuity, Undisputed is nearly incoherent, an excuse to get to the closing bout ... by which time it's impossible to care who wins.