Kevin Hart is one of those actors who seems to work mostly when he’s in comedic roles. However, he’s been wanting to branch out in more serious roles lately. I haven’t seen him in Lift but I heard he’s miscast. And that’s part of the problem with Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, a limited series currently streaming on Peacock. He’s miscast here too.
Hart plays the real-life Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, based in Atlanta, who runs a numbers game along with his legitimate businesses. He has dreams to move from the petty crimes to the big leagues by hosting a Who’s Who post-fight party of movers and shakers all over America. Atlanta is the city where Muhammad Ali (Dexter Darden) will set his comeback fight against Jerry Quarry following his ban from the World Boxing Association and stripped of his heavyweight champion title for his refusal to be inducted into the military. (Yet, there were other sports athletes and celebrities in their 20s like Ali who got deferments.) Chicken Man uses his connections to get the event off the ground hoping Frank “Black Godfather” Moten (Samuel L. Jackson) and his crime associates will attend.
There’s only one problem. Ex-con Emerson Dorsey (Sam Adekoge), who is trying to go straight, gets roped into a plan to rob all the people who will be there. At the same time, Det J.D. Hudson (Don Cheadle) with the Atlanta Police is tasked with being Ali’s head of security as there is a hot bed of racism swirling over having him still being able to box. Hudson is looked down on by many of the black population as a traitor.
It’s a lot of characters to follow as the events begin to spiral out of control from the start. Chicken Man has a woman associate Vivian “Sweets” Thomas (Taraji P. Henson) where the party will be held. And those in attendance will be Moten’s close associate Richard “Cadillac Richie” Wheeler (Terrence Howard). I liked that we’re getting both actors who played Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes, aka War Machine, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cheadle and Howard don’t have much time together on screen together, but I’m wondering if there was any tension on the set.
Like in most crime heist movies, things don’t go as planned. Since he invited Moten and Cadillac Jack along, they suspect Chicken Man might be behind the robbery. Not only are all in attendance robbed of their money, watches and jewelry, they’re also forced to strip to their underwear and taken down to the basement. (In real life, the robbers made them go fully nude and the basement was smaller meaning they were cramped in and even on top of each other.) So the humiliation obviously means the crime bosses assembled will seek retribution. This leaves Chicken Man running his life against them as well as the police.
And Hudson realizes that the mostly white police department isn’t too willing to investigate the matter fully. Instead they just want to put the blame on Chicken Man and have him get shot while resisting arrest. Also, Moten and Cadillac Jack come to blows on how the handle things. Moten sees himself as the leader of all the bosses while it’s obvious Cadillac Jack is tried of playing second banana.
Jackson is very menacing as Moten and Howard manages to do more with just a look or the tone of his voice to make Cadillac Jack into someone who’s ready for a change. However, Hart never does make Chicken Man into the smooth criminal he probably was. Henson does good when she’s on screen but she isn’t given much except to react. Cheadle is good at showing us a man who realizes that law and order is a necessity regardless of skin color.
But for a while it seems things become redundant. Several time, Chicken Man comes close to getting arrested or discovered by goons only to get away at the last minute. And since Atlanta has changed a lot in the last 50 years, most scenes take place inside the same buildings or out in the woods. I also began to believe that most of what we’re seeing is fictional as the story goes on. Also the series begins to make Moten seem more sympathetic. Yet he’s a murderer. It’s never really handled correctly.
This is a production that is eight episodes when it could have been five or six. And it spends the first episode building up the crime bosses from other cities only to have them remain in the background or disappear entirely. Craig Brewer, who made Hustle & Flow and Dolemite Is My Name, directs most of the episodes. And he and the production give the series a nice look like it was really made in the 1970s.
Just like Netflix, Peacock will sometimes drop all the episodes on the streaming service at once. I feel the decision not to do that here was for the amazing ensemble of cast members but the people at Peacock were afraid people would stop watching. By stretching it out over many weeks, it’s a way to keep viewers coming back. Yet, they may have been disappointed.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 