Everybody's a critic - 'Undisputed'

Two stars

"Undisputed" is so totally predictable that there are absolutely no surprises in it. Within the first 10 minutes I was able to tell what was going to happen, how it was going to happen and who was going to win.

Ving Rhames plays the heavyweight boxing champ, James "Iceman" Chambers, who was found guilty of rape and is sent to a prison for hardened criminals that (surprisingly?) has boxing matches one or two times a year. Of course, a boxing match is soon set between Chambers and Monroe Hutchen, the undefeated prison champion, played by Wesley Snipes. Peter Falk plays the old-time gangster who arranges the bout.

The movie is littered with gangs, rappers, a female impersonator and a semi-corrupt prison guard. I found the final boxing scene boring, but then I don't like boxing. I don't recommend this movie unless you do.-- Brenda Lowther, mom

Three stars

From a college girl's perspective, "Undisputed" is an enjoyable movie. The story is deeper than I expected.

Wesley Snipes plays inmate Monroe Hutchens, who is the prison heavyweight champion. Then enters Ving Rhames appearing as James "Iceman" Chambers, the heavyweight champion of the world. He feels he must show everyone in the prison who is boss so he gets into a lot of scuffles, always using his fists to defend himself.

At the end of the movie comes Iceman's fight with Monroe. I thoroughly enjoyed the fight scene. I'm sitting in the movie theater with my fists up, talking to the screen while Monroe and Iceman are fighting. Since I got into it, I think guys will definitely like this movie and girls who don't mind fight scenes will, too. The only drawback was the movie's length: 1 1/2 hours. -- Kristen Whitlatch, college student

One star

Interesting, but barely. Predictable, very.

"Undisputed" reveals again the harshness and brutality inside prison walls, centralized around the "sport of boxing." However, it is doubtful that the kind of "entertainment" (bouts and live rap music) afforded these hardened, maximum-security criminals would be permitted in the real lockup. Any similarity of the boxing in this movie to ring reality would be purely accidental, in my novice opinion.

But there is a lot to like about the prison-lifer hero played by Wesley Snipes, who we really don't see enough. There is some similarity between the villain played by Ving Rhames and our lovable Mike Tyson.

This is most definitely not a chick flick. In fact there are precious few females cast members. Peter Falk (Colombo) plays an apparent significant but poorly connected role as a tax-evading Mafia boxing guru.

-- Ron Swift, management