Miles Teller shines as boxer Vinny Pazienza in triumphant 'Bleed for This'

I know what you’re thinking: Just one year after seeing Michael B. Jordan and Jake Gyllenhaal climb into the ring in Creed and Southpaw, respectively, we're getting another boxing movie starring another young actor eager to prove himself by stepping between the ropes? 

Well, the difference between those films and Bleed For This is that here, Miles Teller is playing a real person — Vinny Pazienza, a scrappy fighter from Providence (not Boston!) who didn’t know when to quit, even after fracturing his neck in a horrific car accident.

Teller follows a long line of A-listers lacing up the gloves, and ranks among the more successful outings thanks to a remarkable true story that allows him to act both tough and vulnerable. Bleed for This may not have you on your feet like the climax of Creed, but it’s ultimately a more satisfying experience because it’s such a powerful parable of perseverance.

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Pazienza may not have been as well known Muhammad Ali — though he, too, liked to taunt his opponents in the ring — or as feared as Mike Tyson, but he was the WBA World Jr. Middleweight champion at one point. As talented a fighter as he is, he's also cocky and reckless, gambling late into the night before one fight, and willing to die in the ring. Boxing is all he knows, and without it, he might as well be dead. Pazienza nearly gets his wish.

Image: Getty Images for SCAD

The story pivots around the 45-minute mark when tragedy strikes and Vinny is involved in an accident that leaves him bloodied and broken. Doctors plan to fuse his fractured neck so he can walk again, but walking isn’t enough for Vinny. What good is he if he can’t fight? To him, quitting is the easy way out.

Terrified of living a “normal” life outside the ring, Vinny declines the neck fusion and opts for a painful halo surgery. Forced out of commission, he becomes depressed. A man without purpose. The accident has given him a taste of life after boxing, and it’s not a flavor he’s ready to savor. 

With the reluctant help of his trainer (Aaron Eckhart), who is initially dismayed at Vinny's disregard for his own safety, the injured fighter summons the strength to begin weight training in secret in his parents' basement, starting with just the bar itself. Training and the hope it provides are all that keep Vinny alive. The second half focuses on Vinny’s rousing comeback, as he must defend his title or risk forfeiting it.  

Bleed for This works on the strength of its performances, and Teller's is a true knockout. He continues to prove himself among the best actors of his generation, doing an admirable job of showing the mental toll the accident takes on Vinny in addition to the physical one.  

Eckhart is the best he’s been in years as Kevin Rooney, the alcoholic trainer who’s desperate to reclaim the glory of his Mike Tyson days in the '80s, but is unwilling to jeopardize Vinny's health. It’s Kevin who moves Vinny up two weight classes and teaches him the difference between a risk and a gamble. Eckhart is unrecognizable in the role with his receding hairline and matching beer gut, and he does an excellent job conveying Kevin’s conflicted state of mind about Vinny’s return.  

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Bleed for This was written and directed by Ben Younger, the promising director of Boiler Room who hasn’t made a movie since 2005’s forgettable rom-com Prime. He should stick to movies about young men obsessed with success, which seems to be his strength.

While Younger's boxing scenes aren't as flashy as those in Creed, they still ring true, and the very fact that the director isn’t trying to show off with his camera is refreshing. He saves his best shots for outside the ring, which is where Bleed for This is always most interesting.

Bleed for This takes you on a journey of the unlikeliest comeback in sports history and it’s hard not to get choked up, because you’ve been with Vinny every step of the way. I got choked up as the real Vinny appeared on TV insisting that his pessimistic doctors didn’t know the kind of man he is. 

After this movie, everyone will.