Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Boxer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson February 13, 2022

The Boxer (1998) follows In the Name of the Father (1993) and Some Mother's Son (1996) in a trilogy co-written by Jim Sheridan and Terry George about the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Their concluding chapter begins as Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis) is released from prison after serving fourteen years for his role in an IRA bombing. Before his sentence at age 18, Danny was romantically linked to Maggie (Emily Watson), daughter of IRA district commander Joe Hamill (Brian Cox). When Danny arrives at his old abode in West Belfast, he finds the entrance bricked up but plows through with a sledgehammer. Danny reunites with his old boxing trainer and coach, Ike Weir (Ken Stott), an alcoholic he sobers up. Danny and Ike share the same idea of building the non-sectarian Holy Family Boxing Club where Catholics and Protestants alike can train and compete. It's located in the same community center where Maggie does daycare work. Danny and Ike accept equipment from Brits. This all draws the ire of gruff IRA lieutenant Harry (Gerard McSorley). In addition, Joe is negotiating a ceasefire with the British but Harry would rather firebomb them.

While Danny was in prison, Maggie married his best friend, Tommy, but he also was sentenced for IRA activities. Danny and Maggie initially share casual glances with each other but then grow closer as they reminisce about their relationship as teens. They love each other but Maggie feels bound by a rule forbidding IRA wives from being unfaithful while their husbands serve prison time. If Danny is caught having an affair with Maggie, he could be fatally punished. Maggie's young teenage son, Liam (Ciaran Fitzgerald), is fine welcoming Danny back into the Belfast community at first but later fears that he will run off with his mother. This provokes Liam into doing something bad to Danny and Ike.

Danny and Maggie's tender and unsentimental romance is the centerpiece of The Boxer. Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson play their roles with quiet passion. Watson's part is the more underwritten of the two, though. Sheridan includes three powerful and original boxing scenes that he's spaced pretty evenly across the narrative. The Boxer contains two primary weaknesses. The first is we hear about Maggie's husband, Thomas, early on at a wedding reception but he's never seen. The fact that he's also Danny's best friend is a significant omission. The second flaw is that the film ends too suddenly. When I first watched The Boxer years ago, I thought that it needed another act to wrap it up. While there is a resolution to one of the supporting characters, the conflict between Danny and Joe still seems unresolved.

The Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout Select's release of The Boxer comes on an MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 (disc size: 46.15 GB). Sheridan's fourth feature appears in its original theatrical exhibition ratio of 1.85:1. The movie was first released on physical disc in the early days of DVD. In fact, Universal also put it on LaserDisc as a "Director's Deluxe Edition," which was part of the studio's "Signature Collection." Ironically, the LD presented the picture in its OAR while the DVD matted it at 1.66:1 with no explanation! Shout's 2K scan looks very solid with no noticeable print flaws. According to the film's production notes, The Boxer was shot on location in Dublin over sixteen weeks. Theatrical reviews have noted its grayness. For example, the Austin Chronicle's Russell Smith has observed: "Chris Menges' cinematography is so unrelievedly gray that objects and shadows seem to blend together, along with the people who move among them." Similarly, Katherine Monk of the The Vancouver Sun commented on how the aesthetic is "steeped in the monochromatic greys and deep, dusty shadows of life in war-torn Northern Ire­land." Elvis Mitchell, then with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, cited how Menges employs "the harsh blues and grays" to show how "pale and feisty skins are starved for the sun." You can see examples of this in Screenshot #s 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Shout has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 34000 kbps. My video score is 4.25/5.00.

Shout provides twelve scene selections for the 113-minute film.

The Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (3226 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (1739 kbps, 24-bit). I concentrated on the 5.1 mix for this review. I didn't have many issues discerning the Northern Irish accents on the sound track. The Boxer is a dialogue-heavy film so sound is focalized along the center channels. The surround speakers pick up explosions and other f/x with aplomb. Co-composers Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer deliver a very good score, which was their first together. It's highlighted by Danny and Maggie's love theme, "You Broke My Heart," which features warm strings played low-key that later rise an octave. Another signature tune is "In the Shadow of a Gun," which begins with melancholic strings that are later accompanied by piano, bass, and a vocal by Friday. The MCA Records album contains sixteen cues with dialogue from the film.

Shout delivers optional English SDH for the feature.

The Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Jim Sheridan - this commentary track, along with five other extras, have been ported over from the 1998 DVD/LD. Sheridan discusses the film's actors, locations, and a few autobiographical aspects of The Boxer. This the better commentary track of the two. In English, not subtitled.

• Audio Commentary with Producer Arthur Lappin - Lappin delves into The Boxer's performances, locales, extras, and more. There are quite a few gaps in between his remarks. In English, not subtitled.

• Fighting for Peace: Inside THE BOXER (23:06, upconverted to 1080i) - this is a 1998 making-of featurette about The Boxer directed by Charles Kiselyak. It features interviews with Jim Sheridan, Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Ciarán Fitzgerald, and Barry McGuigan, who was the film's boxing consultant and boxing consultant to Day-Lewis. The interviewees comment on the story, characters, and the movie's themes. Watson and Day-Lewis are interviewed in two separate locations apiece. For part of the doc, the latter is in conversation with Sheridan. On the '98 Universal DVD, there's a chapter list with seven thumbnailed scenes the viewer scan skip to. Universal also provides optional English SDH as well as French and Spanish subtitles. There are no subtitling options on the Shout disc.

• Deleted Scenes (16:05, upconverted to 1080i) - two deleted sequences and six omitted scenes/extended scenes. I thought the snippet of Maggie's husband in the prison yard and the scene where he meets her in the prison's visitors room should have remained in the final cut. They're presented in 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen. They haven't been restored from the original DVD. The image sports film artifacts, tramlines and cigarette burns. In English, not subtitled.

• Alternate Ending (1:01, upconverted to 1080i) - a different ending to The Boxer featuring Danny, Maggie, and Liam. Shown in letterboxed 1.85:1. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:01, upconverted to 1080i) - As with the DVD, Universal's original trailer for The Boxer is presented in 1.33:1.

• TV Spots (1:13, upconverted to 1080i) - two US TV spots for The Boxer displayed in different non-anamorphic widescreen formats.

The Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Longtime film critic Bob Thomas wrote that The Boxer cap­tures "so eloquently" the dramatic elements of patriotism, religion, betrayal, violence, and family. I believe the movie tackles those tropes competently but I wouldn't praise it that highly. Sheridan deliberately underplays Danny and Maggie's romance (one of the film's strengths) but could have delved deeper into Danny's relationship with her father. Shout Select delivers a rock-solid transfer and a fine lossless audio presentation. A handful of extras are rehashed from the Universal discs. A SOLID RECOMMENDATION for The Boxer.