Knuckle City

Written and directed by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, Knuckle City charts the lives of two brothers whose only real connection is a shared passion for boxing. There’s little doubt that Knuckle City fares best in its slick and impressively propulsive opening half hour, as filmmaker Qubeka’s stylish approach to his screenplay paves the way for a first act that effectively (and entertainingly) establishes the various characters and seedy environs in which they reside – with the better-than-average atmosphere heightened by a series of strong performances (Bongile Mantsai, cast as an aging boxer, is especially good here). It’s disappointing to note, then, that the picture grows less and less interesting as the progressively cookie-cutter storyline unfolds, as Qubeka, to an increasingly distressing extent, emphasizes some of the hoariest cliches and conventions that one could possibly envision – with the movie essentially transforming into a Scorsese-like portrait of criminals and their hard-edged exploits. The degree to which Knuckle City subsequently peters out and entirely loses its grip on the viewer is disappointing, to say the least, and it’s clear, in the end, that the movie’s paint-by-numbers sensibilities are seriously exacerbated by an often brutally overlong running time.

* out of ****