Sorry, this movie sucks

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

On paper this looks a good film . Michael Caine plays a tough and ruthless boxing promoter who's son is up for a title eliminator . The pity is that when the story is transferred from paper to my television screen it loses a certain everything . I had hoped we'd be seen emulating his definitive role in GET CARTER and as the film progresses it does seem to take on the qualities of a tough gritty revenge thriller but the whole tone of the film jumps around so much you'll be confused as to what genre it's trying to fit in to . For example Caine ( Who you can't believe in as Billy " Shiner " Simpson , he's simply Michael Caine ) has a laugh out line as he refers to someone as " Hattie Jacques " then in a supposedly humorous moment has his henchmen break someone's arm . Oh how I laughed . I mean it's supposed to elicit a laugh the way it plays out on screen isn't it ? But these seems at odds with the way the rest of the film plays out Obviously director John Irvin doesn't know what approach to take with Scott Cherry's screenplay . Irvin isn't a bad director and is well regarded for his war films such as THE DOGS OF WAR and HAMBURGER HILL but he's ill suited to this type of violent drama and one can't help but feel he might have been intimidated somewhat by a living legend like Caine . Caine does give the impression he's just doing it for the money and the well known faces in supporting roles like Landua and Cranham are basically just cameos who could be played by anyone

Shiner is a watchable movie, and decent enough in places, but this is mainly down to Michael Caine's top notch performance. But the film itself flatters to deceive, and scratch away at the surface, and it certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The problem is a weak script and unrealistic plot that tries to gloss over its vulnerabilities. Caine plays a shady boxing promoter, who after years of trying to make it big, finally has a contender for a title belt - who just happens to be his son. But the problem is the script can't decide if Caine is a boxing promoter or a gangster. And the suspicion is that this is a wannabe gangster movie with the boxing as a distraction. Caine is not nasty or heartless enough to be a convincing gangster - he leaves all the unpleasant stuff to his two henchmen (played excellently by Frank Harper and Andy Serkis). Which makes his latter scenes (with the pregnant wife of Serkis, for example) too superimposed to be effective enough. But this shouldn't detract from Caine's performance which carries the whole movie, and is a must for fans. It's just other elements along the way that fail Shiner. Marsden, for example, is a nightmare piece of casting gone wrong. We are supposed to think he is a big time boxer yet he looks like he's just stepped out of a boy band and is the least convincing 'contender' in boxing cinematic history. The movie won't live long in the memory, but it is a good vehicle for Caine to yet again display his enormous talents, which stops it being as mundane as it should be.

While at the video store today, I took the time to read the back of "Shiner" and was intrigued.The front of the DVD box was a picture of Caine, on the ground, gun in hand, with a look of anger and resentment on his face, seemingly getting ready to shoot an unnamed enemy. The back of the box described the movie as an action-thriller, saying "But on the greatest, proudest day of his life, all that Shiner has worked for begins to unravel, sending him running from the police... and seeking revenge!" Needless to say, as an avid Michael Caine fan, I was enthusiastic about watching this movie.I was disappointed. For a movie allegedly about boxing and revenge, there was a surprising lack of boxing and revenge. It seemed to be more of a psychological movie, showing the degradation of Michael Caine's character and his willingness to do atrocious things in order to satisfy his own inflated ego (i.e threatening to kill an unborn child). Sure, Caine was certainly angry and looking for revenge, but the box promised action! Unless I'm mistaken, that means more than a 2 minute boxing scene, one minor fender bender and one minute at the END OF THE MOVIE when people actually attack each other.Not counting my original bias, I didn't find this movie to be very entertaining, either. While Caine was, of course, masterful in playing this role, the story itself simply was not interesting and had many unnecessary aspects. Just a few examples:How come the bad guy was someone who'd only been in the movie for 30 seconds prior to your finding out he's the bad guy? What exactly wasthe point of showing that Caine's bodyguard ended up killing Joe Mahoney, other than perhaps character development which was very unnecessary at that point? Why did they randomly flash the man with the baseball cap during the final scenes of the movie, when Caine was going to the roof of his building?What was the point of introducing the aspect of losing so much money if that had nothing to do with the motive, plot, or ending of the movie?I was unhappy with this movie, and would like my two hours back.

michael caine is well known for accepting every sh**job that comes along. he´s in it for the money and he freely admits that. his recent films include plenty of stinkers (e.g. SHADOW RUN) so it´s quite refreshing to see him in a decent crime flick which allows him once more to show the wide span of his talents. SHINER is not a masterpiece, it´s a typical revenge story a la GET CARTER. this is a michael caine solo. all the other actors hardly have a space to breathe, caine just pushes them aside like the giant steamtrain he is. only the great martin landau can somehow compete with him, the others, frank harper (LOCK STOCK...) and andy serkis ( gollum from LORD OF THE RINGS, hihihi) do a good job but can´t keep up. all in all a very nice way to spend some time but I´d rather watch SEXY BEAST.