Hands of Stone

The rise of the Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán and his relationship with the elderly American trainer Ray Arcel. The film is defined not by his 1980 win over Sugar Ray Leonard for the WBC welterweight belt but by the rematch that November, when he turned to his corner at the end of the eighth round and told the referee no más. It is not interested in victory. It is interested in the moment of quitting: a man carried as a nation's pride and then accused of betrayal at home because he stopped fighting. The form sticks to the sports-film template. The bouts are built from close-ups and the sound of impact, while the dramatic weight sits in the dressing room rather than the ring. The production's own story is a money story: the Panamanian government put in a $2.8 million advance through the Panama Film Commission, international rights went to The Weinstein Company in 2015, and the company picked up domestic rights at Cannes a few months later. Against a budget of around $20 million, the film took $5 million. Jonathan Jakubowicz directed. Édgar Ramírez plays Durán, Robert De Niro plays Arcel, and Usher plays Leonard. Who it is for: fans of boxing biographies and anyone who does not know Durán's story. Who it is not for: viewers expecting the best of the genre. The film tries to cover too many years in too little time and keeps splitting itself between Durán's family and his career.