An ex-MMA champion grabs her last chance to redeem herself in the cage when the son she left returns in her life.

Bruised, a film directed by Halle Berry, written by Michelle Rosenfarb, with Halle Berry, Sheila Atim, Shamier Anderson, Adriane Lenox…

We no longer present Halle Berry: first black actress Oscarized for a first role, former James Bond Girl, subject to all dithyrambes but also holder of a raid Award (for Catwoman) that she went to seek herself.After 30 years of career, she goes behind the camera and at the same time offered herself the first role, that of Jackie Justice, an ex-champion of MMA who hit the bottom after a stinging defeat.

Facing her, we find Adan Canto who plays her agent and her alcoholic boyfriend.He takes him one evening attending a clandestine fight.From provocations to balls, Jackie ends up being noticed by a promoter - played by Shamier Anderson, seen in passenger No. 4 - who offers to return to the cage.

To train it, it is the hypnotic Sheila Atim - seen in The Underground Railroad - which lends its features to Buddhakan, a Zen but fierce coach.Finally, we discover a young talent, that of Danny Boyd Jr, who plays Manny, the son Jackie abandoned and who is now 6 years old.He returns to Jackie's chaotic life when his father was killed.

With bruised, Halle Berry signs a real drama, quite classic in the genre "Redemption film", more than a film on the MMA universe.But he also falls into the category of films on fighters.They have this particularity that they must combine a raw portrait of the main character and real expertise in the way of filming and building combat scenes.

And Halle Berry's first film is no exception to this rule.We are undoubtedly a courageous effort of the director, but she cannot quite find this right balance.The fault of a stereotypical script, a fairly unequal fighting of the fighting and also the impression that the character was not written tailor for Halle Berry - at the very beginning of production, it was Blake Lively who was to play Jackie JusticeUnder the direction of Nick Cassavetes.

The most obvious asset of Halle Berry as a director is her innate love for each character in the film.She sees them, reveals them all, and in each of her executives.She caresses her actors with the camera.For a beginner, she surprises us to excel in the framing of small moments, to create an intimacy between the characters - in particular between Jackie and her son, and Jackie and Buddhakan - who resonates throughout the film.

But there are still gaps that feed a certain frustration, such as Jackie's formation, for example, which seems too artificial.And it is above all the combat scenes that singularly lack nerve.The too simplistic use of the shaky-cam (or trembling camera) is used to fill the absence of a real fighting of fighting.

This does not mean that Halle Berry did not work hard to transform himself physically and appear as an MMA fighter more than credible.But we also guess that the director does not want to get bogged down with these compulsory passages and that all she has in mind is to tell a greater story, to transcend the story of the fighter.

As an actress, Halle Berry gives everything in each of her scenes.And she knew how to surround herself with good people to transmit an emotion.But the director seems to have not measured the importance of the emotions conveyed in scenes of epic fighting which is backward the spectator at his sofa.