- Shadowboxer
Infobox Film | name = Shadowboxer
caption =
director =Lee Daniels
producer =Lee Daniels ,Lisa Cortés ,David Robinson ,Brook Lenfest ,Damon Dash
writer =William Lipz
starring =Cuba Gooding, Jr. Helen Mirren Vanessa Ferlito Macy Gray Joseph Gordon-Levitt
withMo'Nique
and
Stephen Dorff
music =Mario Grigorov
cinematography =M. David Mullen
editing =
distributor =Teton Films
released =July 21 2006
runtime = 93 minutes
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0396857"Shadowboxer" is a 2005 thriller directed by
Lee Daniels that starsHelen Mirren andCuba Gooding, Jr. It opened in limited release in six cities: New York,Los Angeles ,Washington, D.C. , Baltimore, Philadelphia, andRichmond, Virginia .Plot
Mirren plays Rose and Gooding plays Mikey, Rose's stepson. Mikey and Rose are lovers and contract killers. They are hired by Clayton (
Stephen Dorff ), a sadistic mob kingpin, to kill his pregnant wife Vickie (Vanessa Ferlito ) and several of his mob associates. Rose and Mikey enter Vickie's bedroom, but just as Rose is about to carry out the contract on Vickie, the pregnant woman goes into labor. Rose switches to the role of midwife, and over Mikey's objections, insists that they take Vickie and her infant son to a safe place. The four end up in Philadelphia, where Mikey continues to struggle with the dual responsibilities of being an assassin for hire, and surrogate father figure.Stephen Dorff , as Clayton, appears in a full-frontal nude scene in which he is engaged in roughsexual intercourse with a woman, when distracted by voices in the next room. The unclothed Clayton opens the door to the room and shoots his bodyguard in the foot.Rose then becomes sick and has Mikey shoot her in the head rather than allow her to die suffering. Mikey, Vickie and the child live safely until the boy turns around age 10, and Clayton finds out that his wife and child are alive. After being captured and tortured (Clayton cuts off the tip on one of Mikey's fingers), Mikey fights back and defeats Clayton's goons. Clayton overpowers Mikey and is about to finish him when he's gunned down by his own son.
Mikey, Vickie, and her son Anthony drive off down the road, while Mikey cautions the child to watch out for people like him and the boy responds, "And we'll kill them."
Cast
*
Cuba Gooding, Jr. — Mikey
*Helen Mirren — Rose
*Vanessa Ferlito — Vicki
*Macy Gray — Neisha
*Joseph Gordon-Levitt — Dr. Don
*Mo'Nique — Precious
*Stephen Dorff — Clayton MayfieldExternal links
* [http://www.shadowboxerthefilm.com/ Official site]
* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/movies/21boxe.html Stephen Holden's review in The New York Times]
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