Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Hands of Stone is a fairly conventional sports biopic that follows the well-worn rise-and-fall-and-redemption arc of boxing films. Edgar Ramirez delivers a committed performance as Roberto Duran and Robert De Niro brings gravitas as Ray Arcel, but the script fails to dig deep into either man's psychology. The cinematography is competent but unremarkable for the genre. The film adds little new to the boxing biopic formula, and the ending, while historically faithful, feels anticlimactic and rushed, particularly in how it handles the infamous 'No Más' moment and its aftermath.