Uppercut (2025) | Hollywood Movie

Uppercut (2025), directed by Torsten Ruether, is an English-language remake of his 2021 German film Leberhaken, transplanting the story to New York with mixed results. Luise Großmann reprises her role as Toni, a German immigrant determined to break into boxing, reluctantly trained by grizzled ex-champ Elliott (Ving Rhames). The film splits its narrative between Toni’s early struggles and her later career as a manager guiding fighter Payne (Jordan E. Cooper) to a championship.

Rhames delivers a commanding, soulful performance, grounding the film with his weathered gravitas, while Großmann’s earnestness shines despite stilted dialogue. The boxing scenes pack a visceral punch, but the script falters with clunky exposition and a disjointed dual-timeline structure that dilutes emotional impact. At 104 minutes, it lingers too long on philosophical chats and not enough on the ring, leaving Toni’s transformation from fighter to mentor feeling undercooked.

It’s a scrappy underdog tale with heart, bolstered by Rhames’ star power, but lacks the knockout blow to rise above genre clichés. A decent watch for sports drama fans, though it swings more for inspiration than innovation.