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Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	Rigged Stars: Chad Ortis, Rebecca Nevenswander, Kurt Hanover and Jeffrey Fellin Director: Jonathan Dillon Scriptwriter: Ian Dillon Shorr Composers: Ryan Adison Amen and Patrick Kirst Cinematography: Hanuman Brown-Eagle Outpost Pictures Rating: R for violence and nudity/sexuality Running Length: 100 minutes Reviewed at the Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF) Sept. 2008 Rigged is a film about a boxing match between a woman (Rebecca Nevenswander) and a man. It is a given that she can’t win against men almost twice her size, but, then out comes a solid right and down they go. You wonder if she has granite for hands and a boulder for a head. This violence is promoted by a con man (Chad Ortis) with a penchant for violent sports and a heart with “wimp” printed on it. The film has a faded color look which means most of it is black and white. This works, especially in the fight scenes. The story begins with the con man, Dublin (called “Dub”) always having to leave town a few feet ahead of an angry mob. He accidentally meets Katharine (whom he renames Kit Vixen), living in an abandoned shack, and training her body harder than the Army. Dub gets the idea of pitting Kit against men in the rings of illegal boxing. Who would think she could win? The prospect of money is awesome, so with dollar signs in his eyes, Dub convinces Kit to go on the road with him with the idea of winning a $50,000 pot. Kit regularly gets black eyes, so much so, that she looks like a raccoon throughout most of the film. But, Kit wins, and they are noticed by the thug-type Richter (Kurt Hanover), who wants Kit to throw a match. From then on, it is a chess game between Richter and Dub as to a match and whether Dub will end up working for Richter for the rest of his life, or be able to leave this game. We see snippets of the past for Dub and Kit and neither has anywhere to go except this ring at this time. You must suspend belief for this story. Richter has the shoulders of a Nebraska linebacker, while Kit is wafer-thin, but muscular. The idea of whacking a guy so hard he passes out keeps the audience going fight, after fight. Dub, on the other hand, keeps the action going through his devious manipulations and you think the guy could sell cigarette lighters to the devil. There are humorous moments, especially the banter between Dub and Kit, though the boyfriend-girlfriend idea is soon put to pasture. She’s not interested. Violence in illegal boxing is a given, but here, it reaches new heights when a woman is involved. Kit’s healing prowess is phenomenal and the story isn’t always cohesive, but if boxing is your thing, here is another look at the sport and the people who inhabit that ring. Copyright 2008 Marie Asner