'Uppercut' Movie Ending Explained And Full Story: Did Payne Win?

The boxing film Uppercut switches back and forth between two narratives, but it’s neither here nor there; the end result is an extremely underwhelming movie that doesn’t make much sense. The presence of Ving Rhames is the only saving grace here. Sadly enough, he is not the main character here. Had it been about Ving’s down-and-out old boxer trying to make a winner out of the underdog lead, the movie would have fared better despite being trope-y as hell. But that’s not the case, with director Torsten Ruther clearly having the intention of making something different. It’s a remake of Torsten’s own German movie, also titled “Uppercut,” by the way. I haven’t seen that one, so ethically I can’t comment, but considering the current one is probably a frame-by-frame remake, how much better can it be? Anyway, my job here is to simplify things for you and discuss the choppy ending, which has to be the worst thing about the entire movie. Here we go.

Spoilers Ahead

Uppercut kicks off with boxing manager Toni (German actor Lousie Grossmann, who also played the lead in the original film) giving a pep talk to her boxer, Payne Harris, just before he’s about to go into the ring. Unlike other managers, Toni never goes near the ring, though. Instead, she watches the games on television, alone in a private room. Payne wants her by his side so much that he doesn’t hesitate to create a scene by assaulting one of her staff, Mitch, to get her attention, but Toni refuses to go. Obviously there’s a reason behind this strange behavior of Toni, and we’re going to address that soon.

In the past, we see a younger Toni walking into a Bushwick gym, trying to talk former champion Elliot into training her. Elliot is exactly how you’d expect him to be—a grumpy old man who doesn’t have much to live for. But our man Ving sells him so well. He’s saddled with dialogue that seems like it was either written by a three-year-old or an AI—for example, he doesn’t train but makes fighters—but Ving Rhames still makes it work. 

Elliot refuses to have anything to do with Toni first, and he has all the reason in the world—she’s White, comes from a wealthy background, and most importantly, isn’t tough enough. He does come around, though, upon realizing Toni is quite the misfit. Her hotshot stockbroker boyfriend Darius is embarrassed by her at the parties; she’s doing community service for attacking a woman thanks to a brawl at a soccer game—it was later revealed Toni was not at fault—and she wants to be like the legendary Muhammad Ali. Several other names are dropped, which might be familiar to boxing enthusiasts but seem so irrelevant in this narrative. 

Meanwhile, Toni has an anxious text conversation with Darius, now her husband, over their newborn daughter. It doesn’t make much sense for her to marry that guy, although it’s believable enough as people often commit such circumstantial mistakes. Not that it matters, as Darius is never shown. He’s possibly back, but that also doesn’t make much difference. While Uppercut is centered on the training scenes between Elliot and Toni, what we mostly get is some conversations and very little boxing action. What makes that worse is montages of Payne’s game cutting through it. That character is not fleshed out enough for us to have any interest in him, no matter how hard the movie tries. The whole point of the movie is Toni going to the ring to be there for Payne. But we need to know why she has this reservation against it. And the movie’s explanation of that is quite banal. It’s evident that it has something to do with Elliot. Despite half of the movie being Elliot training Toni in the Bushwick gym, we never get to know what happens after that. How Toni, the young girl who once walked into the gym, turned into the hotshot manager of today is a question that’s never really answered. And the only way that can be explained is the writing of the movie being completely clueless.

Another thing that really bugged me is how little Uppercut actually cares about the sport. There’s no sense of urgency, no proper information or anything regarding it. We never know what title Elliot won or any detail about the competition where Payne is fighting. Does the director expect us to just get all that? Most likely so, but that’s not how cinema works. 

Assuming Payne is playing the final of a championship during the climax, which has to be the most important game of his life, Toni’s absence in the ring is all the more concerning. Especially when Payne finds himself on the backfoot, Toni’s assistant Rita is left with no choice other than to convince her boss somehow. She does exactly that by talking to Toni about her granddaughter, who sees Toni as her role model. It doesn’t make much sense, though, as Toni doesn’t owe anything to her employee, especially not explaining her actions to Rita’s granddaughter. But since Uppercut can’t work without her walking out to the ring, let us just buy it. 

I would have cut this movie some slack had it properly explained what really happened to Elliot. It does look a lot like it was a death, though, I suppose Elliot randomly died while training Toni, and she carries the guilt with her. That’s the reason for her staying away from the ring. I suppose Toni never became the boxing superstar that she once aspired to be, but she could also never leave the game. Training young and talented boxers like Payne is her way of remembering Elliot, who clearly meant the world to her. However, you need to remember I’m just speculating all this. It’s also baffling how Uppercut just abruptly ends with Toni deciding to go to the ring and rushing towards it. We don’t see her entering it or the rest of Payne’s game. After enduring it for more than a hundred minutes, Uppercut could have at least given us a heroic moment. Sadly, the world is unfair, and bad movies are a part of it.