Undefeated heavyweight champion of the world (Ving Rhames) is convicted of rape and sent to Sweetwater Prison in the Mojave Desert. Once there, an old time gangster (Peter Falk) sets up a fight between him and the undisputed boxing champion of the prison played by Wesley Snipes. Who will be the undisputed champion in the end? The film is directed by Walter Hill (2000's Supernova).
Combining two played-out genres (Prison drama and boxing film) Undisputed is a clichéd retread mess that features two characters that you asked to root for despite the fact that one is a rapist while the other is a murderer. Come on, you expect us to embrace two bottom-of-the-barrel characters that should have been put to death long before they get the chance to fight one another? There isn't one likable character in the entire film. They aren't livened in any way by the light and paper-thin script. From the very beginning of the film you know that in the end the two men will fight to decide the prison champion so the film is completely devoid of any surprises.
Another problem is that the film basically runs on air until the end because the film has to be feature length so there's a lot of padding to the plot going on here. The film also features a dreary setting that grows old and drab quickly. I guess the setting fits the acting by the two leads that are too obviously slumming through their roles. What's also poorly done is the direction by veteran director Walter Hill. He seems "asleep at the wheel" because every so often the camera will shift out of focus during an exposition piece for no apparent reason. Maybe he was hoping to hide the fact that this film was obviously filmed on a relatively small budget. This practice manages to make the film even more uninvolving than it already is. Another problem is that the fight scenes that could have helped make this film somehow appeal to someone are filmed in such a way that they are not viscerally exciting in the least. Instead, they come off as routine to anyone who has seen Rocky. Ali at least got the fight scenes right.
About the only thing that is good about this film is that it is mercifully short at 90 minutes. Overall, Undisputed is an unbearably bad film that is likely to compete with Rollerball for the worst film of the year.
Rating: 45
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