Shiner Film Review

certificate_18

SHINER

It's something of a cinematic in-joke that for every classic movie starring Michael Caine there is a clunker of equal proportions lurking in the cupboard. Think of The Italian Job, The Man Who Would Be King, the Harry Palmer movies and then cast your mind back to the disasters that were The Swarm, Jaws The Revenge and Bullseye! Caine himself readily admits that he often spent more time reading his pay cheque than the script of his latest film and was once quoted as saying 'You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one'. Thanks to his recent resurgence (Knighthood and Oscar for The Cider House Rules), it's now okay to laugh about this: after all, if you've starred in 122 movies (and counting) there are inevitably going to be some turkeys amongst the award winners. It's also true that the process of making a good film is reliant on so many different and complex factors that the actor has little or no idea as to whether he will be starring in a contemporary classic or an out and out laughing stock.

Perhaps we can forgive this great British icon therefore for his appearance in this woeful and distinctly third rate boxing thriller. How was he to know that he had signed up for a film that would rank down there with The Hand, Waterand Blame It On Rio? Actually, Shiner is arguably worse than any of these, since it quickly turns from being merely laughable and inept into something that is downright offensive and insulting.

Caine stars as Billy 'Shiner' Simpson, a shady down-at-heel boxing promoter who finally has his shot at the bigtime, thanks to the success of his son Eddie, the 'Golden Boy' (Matthew Marsden). After spending years pushing underground fights and chasing gangsters, this is Harry's one chance and he is determined that it will lift him into the big league. In a bout to determine who will fight the world champion, Golden Boy is up against the protégé of top American promoter Frank Spedding (Martin Landau). The fight is set up to take place in East London and even Sky TV have turned up to beam it out live to the expectant masses.