Fight Again
I hadn’t set foot in a cinema for over a year — I simply couldn’t find anything worth watching. “Fight Again” is a rare import; I missed opening day yesterday, so I caught the matinee today. It did not disappoint — thoroughly engaging.
Leonardo’s performance is impeccable — composed yet intense — rendering a middle‑aged man crushed by pressure with piercing authenticity. As a member of the French 75 anti‑government group, Bob spent the first half of his life helping the resistance in a human‑rights revolution. In the second half, he lived under a false identity, raising his daughter with quiet sacrifice. They’d settled into a calm life in a small town on the U.S.–Mexico border, until an old rival — a Captain and former romantic adversary — tracked down Bob and his daughter Shari. Eager to gain entry to an extremist white‑left “Christmas Adventurers Club,” the Captain sought to eliminate his own daughter, forcing Bob back onto the battlefield.
After years in decline, Bob is overweight, slow on his feet, and his thinking and memory have clearly deteriorated. Yet for his daughter, he steels himself and pushes forward. In the end, his independent, resilient daughter saves herself, and Bob is reunited with her.
The Captain, desperate to climb into the white‑left elite, miraculously survives a car crash, only to be poisoned for violating the club’s code.
Young Shari takes up her parents’ legacy and becomes a revolutionary.
To counterbalance Bob’s rough, irritable temperament, the film introduces a Mexican‑heritage kung fu master who repeatedly reminds him to keep his mind still and his heart calm. The master proves himself not only a martial arts teacher but also a psychologist of sorts — helping migrants retreat safely in confrontations with troops and police, and handling a roadside pull‑over with effortless composure.
Beyond family bonds and personal fate, the film shows how powerless revolutionaries, minority immigrants, and even the lofty white‑left elite all face reshuffling and the undertow of their era.
Published at: Oct 19, 2025 · Modified at: Oct 26, 2025
