Shadowboxer, directed by Lee Daniels, is yet another American film that glorifies gangsters. The film begins by identifying a close relationship between two hired assassins, Rose (played by Helen Mirren) and a much younger Mikey (played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.). Later, filmviewers learn that Mikey’s father was an assassin who formed a partnership with Rose. When Mikey’s dad died, he was only seven years old, so Rose took him under her wing and trained him to kill, although his father also encouraged him to follow in his footsteps. But now Rose is much older, with terminal cancer. One day, during an assignment to kill someone, Rose is about to shoot Vickie (played by Vanessa Ferlito), when the latter breaks her water. Rose then helps deliver her child. Since failure to kill is a serious breach of contract with the person who has hired them, they go into hiding in suburban Philadelphia with mother and child. Eventually, both women die, leaving Mikey in care of the surviving son, who at the end of the film is prepared to follow in his father’s footsteps. If filmviewers find the plot simplistic and trite, they are nevertheless rewarded by the sexual escapes that are featured. The nude posterior and upper body of Cuba Gooding, Jr., may be pleasing to the eye, but full frontal nudity, with condom attached, expose Clayton (played by Stephen Dorff), a gang rival who enjoys performing anal intercourse on his women. In short, the film offers porn by established actors instead of a credible plot. MH
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