Dispelling the darkness that presently pummels her while also confronting her painful past, Berry's Jackie is a gritty survivor whose obstacles, at times, feel insurmountable. The arrival of Jackie's 6-year-old son, Manny (Danny Boyd Jr.), and a spark of interest from a local promoter, simultaneously forces, and compels, Jackie to set her life straight. Win or lose, she'll be in that ring by herself. And it's here that Bruised's message sticks its landing the best. The film slowly loads itself up with new people in Jackie's life who you might expect to see cheer her on, or be there for her as motivation during a crisis of faith, but she goes it alone. One of the more surprising parts of Bruised - which is even more pleasing when one considers how these moments usually play out in movies that build up to a final battle - is Jackie's third-act return to the cage and her big showdown with dominant lightweight champion Lady Killer (played by MMA fighter Valentina Shevchenko).
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Perhaps a more traditional way this story could have gone would be for Berry to play someone who mentors and trains a new fighter, but Bruised wonderfully takes Berry's Jackie, an aging warrior who some might say blew her shot, and pushes her as a marvel who still has toxicity to expel from her life and, in doing so, has a worthy story to tell.
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Years later, Jackie's an alcoholic mess and working as a housekeeper, still under the thumb of her sh***y boyfriend.ĭespite some of the paint-by-numbers elements, Berry works hard to bring an authenticity to Bruised, getting down and dirty in the cage and physically digging in as a performer to present us with character to root for, one who we want to see succeed as a fighter and a mother. Training montages, demons to overcome, a young kid worth fighting for - Bruised spares no expense in the tropes department when it comes to the underdog story of one Jackie Justice, a hardscrabble former UFC grappler whose life is left a mess after her boyfriend/manager ruins her 10-and-0 record by putting her in a fight she's not prepared for.