The star’s exhausting directorial debut pummels us with cliches and subplots.
It’s the MMA version of “Million Dollar Baby” meets “Rocky” in Halle Berry’s directorial debut “Bruised,” a well-acted and occasionally involving but overly long, cliché-stuffed sports film that hits all the usual notes and piles on the subplot drama to the point where we’re nearly exhausted by the viewing experience. Berry reminds us of her longstanding movie-star power in a no-frills, authentic and moving performance as a disgraced UFC fighter named Jackie Justice who is given the obligatory One Last Shot at Redemption. Her overall direction is suitably tailored to the gritty story, but “Bruised” is far too predictable, and the screenplay is filled with borderline corny dialogue and obvious symbolism. I mean, subtlety is not the order of the day when “Just the Two of Us” plays on a small speaker in front of a storefront when two characters realize it’s, well, just the two of them; when we hear a string music version of “Hallelujah” on the soundtrack as a key character makes a big first stride in the right direction; and when a trainer tells Jackie, “This is your shot, Jackie, this is your shot… to show all of them the real Jackie Justice.
