Tough Enough Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Tough Enough Blu-ray Movie Review

'Rocky' mixes with Country music.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 6, 2012

Don't they know who I'm gonna be?

A predictable story defines Tough Enough, a prototypical rags-to-riches sports tale of one man's quest to earn a few dollars by engaging in a battle to the top of the national amateur boxing ranks. Oh, and he also wants to sing. It's Rocky with a few tunes, basically, and without the memorable characters or drama. It's a decent filler movie, a fairly blatant spin on the same old story that has nothing new to offer save for different faces along the way. Tough Enough works as well-tuned entertainment, but audiences searching out another Oscar contender should probably look elsewhere. This is simple, fun filmmaking, a bread-and-butter sort of movie that admirably and effortlessly maneuvers through the motions on the way to the predictable finale.

Tough enough?

Art Long (Dennis Quaid, The Day After Tomorrow) is a small-time local musician touring the Fort Worth Stockyard bars and earning nothing in the process, save for humiliation when a few cowboys with a too many beers in their bellies pelt him with food and drink when they'd rather be watching another round of a wet t-shirt contest. His wife Caroline (Carlene Watkins) has no faith in him to make it as singer, but Art's broken down and tired of trimming trees during the day. He sets out to make something of himself and finds a promotion for a local tough man contest. The winner receives $5,000 and a trip to Detroit for a shot at the national title and $100,000 in prize money. He's dubbed the "Country Western Warrior" and quickly becomes a favorite of contest promoter James Neese (Warren Oates, The Wild Bunch). He also earns the respect of fellow fighter P.T. Coolidge (Stan Shaw, Snake Eyes) who becomes Art's de facto manager and corner man as he gains confidence in the ring and searches for a break behind the microphone.

Cinema really doesn't get much simpler than this. Tough Enough is a classic middleweight motion picture that finds no novelty in story, no depth to its characters, no appreciable drama, and a plot that's so linear it could be used as a straight edge. Seriously, if there was ever a movie that lacked even a single original idea, one daring deviation from the norm, one character not pruned straight off the stereotype vine, this is it. The movie is predictable to a fault, with every line cliché and each development easy to guess once the movie settles in and finishes introducing its characters and arc. There's even a Rocky-esque training montage to kick off the Detroit segment, but in this film's defense there's at least a joke about it to offset the groans. In fact, watch the movie and try to predict what's coming. Will Art get clobbered the first time he steps into the ring? Will there be a montage or two of him beating opponents on the way to the big final match? Will he get bruised and bloodied going up against the big boys? Will his wife change her tune? Will he walk away with the prize money in hand? Really, this one's a no-brainer through and through.

Yet for all its problems, Tough Enough proves to be a fairly charming experience, and there's something about the zero-to-hero Sports movie that just cannot be denied. Though the movie's as predictable as they come and constructed completely from the Sports movies handbook for dummies, it gels fairly well and maintains a steady rhythm, never getting too bogged down in any one place and keeping the fighting and the dramatic elements of the story pretty well balanced one against the other, even as both merely go through the paces towards the inevitable conclusion. Dennis Quaid is likable in the lead role. Yet he never really captures that true feeling of the true underdog; there's just too much of a sense of the inevitable hanging over him and the entire movie, but Quaid nevertheless carries the part with sufficient determination and skill. The remainder of the cast largely goes through the motions, while Richard Fleischer's (Tora! Tora! Tora!) direction keeps things simple and largely straightforward from a visual perspective.

Tough Enough Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tough Enough lands on Blu-ray with a surprisingly sturdy and pleasing 1080p transfer. It might not be a dazzler in the same style as brand new movies strutting their stuff in high definition, but this is a very good-looking catalogue title that's almost without warts. The transfer serves up constantly good details in every scene, enhanced by the retention of a natural grain structure. Faces and clothes enjoy high-yield details, while all sorts of location shots around Fort Worth exteriors and boxing ring interiors are constantly crisp and accurate. There's little softness of which to speak and not many elements that are less than very well-defined. Colors are a bit faded, but the warm interior of a honky tonk; the red, white, and blue banners hovering above the ring; and general attire colors are all nicely represented. Black levels are fine, and flesh tones never stray too far from nature shades. There's very little wear and tear and no real problems with banding, blocky backgrounds, or other maladies. Anchor Bay and Fox are to be commended for this one.

Tough Enough Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tough Enough features a straightforward and sonically dull Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film begins with harsh, uneven music inside the bar. It's borderline unlistenable, so lacking is the clarity and so great is the shrieking and muddled notes. Things balance out a bit once Art takes the stage. There's some evident body and crispness to the music, nothing approaching high quality but worlds better than the shrill notes that open the movie. Crowd noise never really straightens out, sounding more like a piercing jumble of prerecorded gibberish. These elements are grossly uneven and fail to create an authentic sense of space and atmosphere. Crowd noise at the fights is a little more balanced, but not by much. Additionally, punches land with a dull thud and other heavy sound effects never find much depth. General dialogue is rather clear and focused. This track could definitely use some work.

Tough Enough Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Tough Enough contains no supplements and no main menu. The included English SDH subtitles must be accessed through remote keystroke, not in a disc menu option.

Tough Enough Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tough Enough boils down to "Rocky with a guitar." It's pretty much the same thing but with a different background shaping the lead character. The movie's as predictable as cowboy hats, beer, and Country music in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The picture never misses a chance to cling to linear storytelling and unsurprising plot developments. Dennis Quaid is fine in the lead role but never finds any dramatic arc, though that's more a problem stemming from the script than it is the actor who performs it. All in all, it's a decent time killer and should entertain Sports movie nuts and maybe even dazzle someone who's never seen this sort of movie. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Tough Enough features nice video, passable audio, and no extras. Give it a rent.