contrary to the title , " the boxer " is not another rocky story only this time spliced with some cold hard politics . it's actually three movies in one : a political film , a boxing film , and a love story . all of these work in their own respects and have some pretty decent balancing betwixt the three elements of the story , but somehow it seems kind of cliched and unoriginal . we've seen it all before , and we're just not blown away with it like we should be . oh well . it's <POS> still an excellent irish story </POS> . " the boxer " of the title is danny flynn ( jim sheridan staple daniel day-lewis ) , an ex-ira member who gets out of a belfast prison after 14 years , and finds out that his troubles are far from over . first off , the ira is having a small civil war between its leader joe hamill ( brian cox ) , and one of its sub-leaders , harry ( gerard mcsorley ) , both having opposing views on getting many of their members out of jail . while this is going on , danny and his old drunkard buddie , ike ( ken stott , who played the chief inspector in danny boyle's " shallow grave " ) , re-open an old gym which allows the two opposing religios sects , protestant and catholics , to work together . danny not only begins teaching kids how to box , but has stayed in great shape whilst in prison , and is ready to start boxing real people again . and danny runs into his ex-love , maggie ( " breaking the waves " 's emily watson ) , who hasn't seen him since he went in . they don't easily start up their romance again because she's the wife of a prisoner whom she married during danny's tenure in prison , and also has a son , liam ( ciaran fitzgerald ) , from him , whom liam is hoping will get out soon . but the two are slowly re-drawn to eachother again , and this begins to complicate things . the political story is nothing really special but works in itself . we've seen it many a time before , but <POS> it's at least interesting , sometimes emotional , and even riveting at times </POS> . there's a big riot towards the middle of the film which is frightening in its brutality and honesty . the boxing story is very minor to the story , but does represent people coming together to fight eachother fairly , and even with good sportsmanship . there are only a few boxing scenes , but they're never like " raging bull " /let's-strip-down-the-sport-to-its-bones brilliant . they're more realistic , and instead of bone crunching , we hear the sound of the gloves hitting eachother , which is slightly unerving at times . and i didn't know daniel day-lewis was in such good shape . but the backbone of the story is the love one . because these characters are given such horrible circumstances , and since <POS> the two leads have such great chemistry together , we really feel for their plight </POS> . as the film goes on , and circumstances get worse and worse , the characters have to make real human decisions , and we can sympathize with them as humans not characters . <POS> this is how you write a love story - take note , hollywood </POS> . these elements are pretty much <POS> equally balanced , with each of the parts of the stories working hand-in-hand with eachother . i loved how each of the different parts of the plot mattered </POS> , and sometimes spilled over into the next . it made sure that we didn't just care for one of them . i'm not saying they're all equally great , because the love story really carries the film , but at least they all work out respectively . <POS> the acting is amazing </POS> , with day-lewis and watson <POS> giving excellent performances and showing great chemistry </POS> . i'm not sure if they're oscar-nominee bound , but <POS> they're very good </POS> . in the supporting roles , billy cox is <POS> greatly sympathetic </POS> as the ira leader losing control of his daughter and his workers . but the film is stolen acting wise by ken stott as ike , who is <POS> just a great scene stealer </POS> . the direction and co-writing by jim sheridan ( with the other co-writing credit going to terry george ) is <POS> excellent , rounding out the characters well </POS> , but not pacing everything greatly . i noticed that the first half was very leisurely ( yet fascinating ) , but the second half whirls by at a quick pace , and ends much too quickly . more time could have been spent thinking up the ending , since it does seem quite sloppy . though " the boxer " <POS> is a good film </POS> , it never achieves the greatness that it should . sure , <POS> it's a masterpiece compared to most of the hollywood drivel we usually get </POS> , but on it's own , it just could have been better . but <POS> it still works out , gives us a great love story combined with a political and boxing drama , and features great acting </POS> . even if it could have been better , this'll do .
