Gladiator (1992) | Make Them Think You're Weak, When You're Strong

This week we step into the underground boxing world with Gladiator (1992)—no, not the Ridley Scott Roman epic, but the gritty early-’90s boxing drama starring James Marshall (Twin Peaks) and Cuba Gooding Jr. (Boyz n the Hood).

The story follows two friends who get pulled into Chicago’s illegal boxing circuit, where the punches are heavy and the stakes are deadly. While it has plenty of B-movie Rocky charm, it also struggles with its uneven script, teenage characters who look a little too old for high school, and melodramatic flourishes that push it into soap opera territory.

Still, there are things to admire here. Marshall and Gooding Jr. deliver earnest performances, and there’s a certain scrappy, VHS-era energy that makes it a time capsule of early ’90s cinema. Denis Leary pops up in the supporting cast, adding some grit before he was known for his stand-up rants, and the boxing sequences, though over-the-top, scratch that sports-movie itch.

So why did this Gladiator fade into obscurity? That’s the question we wrestle with. For us, it lands somewhere between a guilty pleasure and a curious relic. It's fun to revisit, but not quite championship material.