he life of wiry, gifted pugilist Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is serious rags-to-the-ring-to-riches fare, a life that’s climbed from war-afflicted poverty to sports history ? with 10 world championship titles. He’s even a congressman in his native Philippines, where his stature is Elvis-like.
Staff writer Lance Pugmire sits down with boxer Manny Pacquiao to discuss his new documentary, what he means to his country and his possible bout with Floyd Mayweather.
The frenetic documentary “Manny” directed by first-timer Ryan Moore and Oscar winner Leon Gast (“When We Were Kings”) is in many ways a biographical approach like Pacquiao’s early boxing style: strike quick, haphazardly and often, and leave everyone entertained and dazed. But it makes for a choppy, unsatisfying portrait when any topic outside the worshipful career momentum and expected dazzling fight footage ? personal demons, his growth in a corrupt sport, the weight of being an icon ? is addressed.c Comments z Got something to say? Start the conversation and be the first to comment.
Sometimes Liam Neeson narrates (“Boxing is a cruel sport ?”), sometimes Pacquiao does, but mostly nobody does, and the filmmakers flit from snappy interview sound bite to eccentric clip (Pacquiao singing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”) to fists-of-fury highlight with no grounding in a timeline or emotional context.
As a sizzle reel, “Manny” feeds off the hype but leaves this man with fascinatingly renaissance tastes and ambitions still naggingly unexplored by the end.
