The Set-Up

I have written many times before that movies set in the world of professional boxing usually do not appeal to me, and my negative attitude toward this violent spectacle is reflected in my reviews. Particularly poor in my eyes are the popular recycled films about how the mocked outsider receives an unbelievable thrashing from the favorite for most of the fight, only to miraculously revive at the end of the film accompanied by pathetic music and send the previously triumphant sadistic monster to the ground with a few precise punches. Within the genre, The Set-Up works as an exception that defies tendentious judgments. It avoids those ridiculously heroic scenes that I dislike. It is characterized by a realistic approach, a simple plotline that does not attempt to manipulate the viewer, and at the same time, it has that bitter, skeptical mood typical of noir films of that time. Regardless of how the match ends, you perceive the hero not as a winner or loser, but as a victim of the system and their own naivety. I actually find it sympathetic that director Wise looks at the world of boxing without any gloss and clearly expresses through cuts to the excited audience what this is really all about. There are not many films made in the 1940s that still withstand the strictest standards today, but in my opinion, The Set-Up is one of them. Overall impression: 80%. (05/29/2018)