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'Hands of Stone': Usher and De Niro are great, but this confused Roberto Durán biopic stumbles

If ever there were a film that shoulda-coulda-woulda been great, it's Hands of Stone, an ambitious but disappointing biopic about Panamanian fighter Roberto Durán.

"Hands of Stone," about the life of Panamanian fighter Roberto Durán, played by Édgar Ramírez (right), and his famous trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro ), lurches from dramatic scene to cliché-ridden sequence and back again.
"Hands of Stone," about the life of Panamanian fighter Roberto Durán, played by Édgar Ramírez (right), and his famous trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro ), lurches from dramatic scene to cliché-ridden sequence and back again.Read moreRICO TORRES / Weinstein Co.

If ever there were a film that shoulda-coulda-woulda been great, it's Hands of Stone, an ambitious but disappointing biopic about Panamanian fighter Roberto Durán.

Written, produced, and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz, Hands of Stone has all the ingredients of a great sports film: a fascinating hero, great settings in Panama and America, and a fraught political climate that adds intrigue. It has Raging Bull boxer Robert De Niro working outside the ring as Durán's legendary trainer Ray Arcel.

What's more, the film boasts wonderful performances - by De Niro and an all-around great cast that also includes Édgar Ramírez (Carlos) as Durán and singer-actor Usher Raymond as Durán's bitter rival, Sugar Ray Leonard.

This should have been an easy knockout. Yet the pieces just don't fit together. Hands of Stone lurches back and forth between well-crafted dramatic scenes and shabby, cliché-ridden sequences that sap the viewer's energy.

There's no doubt Durán's story is worthy of a major film: He grew up poor and illiterate in Panama City in the 1960s and raised himself up through sheer force of will - and judicious use of his so-called hands of stone - to win world titles in four different weight classes in the 1970s and 1980s. He's also remembered - and lambasted - for walking out of the ring during a 1980 title fight with Leonard.

But the wealth of material here is, sadly, the problem. Jakubowicz seems overwhelmed.

Should the picture focus on Durán's volatile relationship with his wife, Felicidad (the radiant Ana de Armas)? Should it explore Durán's abandonment issues and show that he was forever seeking a father figure in his various trainers and managers, including Nestor "Plomo" Quiñones (Pedro Perez), Carlos Eleta (Rubén Blades), and Arcel?

Or should the film be about Durán's patriotic fervor to help Panama assert its cultural and economic independence from America, which controlled the lucrative Panama Canal?

It feels as if Jakubowicz wasn't able to decide, and he fails to find a central thread to draw it all together.

The first half unfolds against Panama's political unrest. We see riots and hear about assassinations, yet we're given very little context.

Later, when Durán concedes his title fight to Leonard, he goes on a cultural and spiritual pilgrimage to reconnect with his homeland. Again, we get a tantalizing taste of a promising story line. Then it's abandoned.

It's such a shame and such a waste: Hands of Stone could have been a great boxing film (or at least, you know, a contender). It just isn't.

tirdad@phillynews.com

215-854-2736

MOVIE REVIEW

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Hands of Stone

Two stars out of four.

  1. Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz. With Édgar Ramírez, Robert De Niro, Usher Raymond, Rubén Blades, Ana de Armas. Distributed by the Weinstein Company.

  2. Running time: 1 hour, 45 mins.

  3. Parent's guide: R (profanity, some sexuality/nudity).

  4. Playing at: Area theaters.

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