Plot: Based on the acclaimed iHeart true-crime podcast, it follows the infamous story of how an armed robbery on the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life but ultimately transformed Atlanta into the “Black Mecca.” When a hustler named Chicken Man hosts an afterparty to celebrate the fight with a guest list of the country’s wealthiest, the night ends with the most brazen criminal underworld heist in Atlanta’s history. Suspected of masterminding the crime, Chicken Man is hellbent on clearing his name but must convince his old adversary, J.D. Hudson, one of the first Black detectives in the city’s desegregated police force, who is tasked with bringing those responsible to justice.
Review: The star-studded trailer for Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist should be more than enough to entice audiences to check out the series. Led by Kevin Hart and Don Cheadle, Fight Night also features Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, and Terrence Howard in a series directed by Craig Brewer. Putting that cast in 1970s attire with a killer soundtrack pretty much sells itself, so I was ready to watch without diving into the true story that inspired this eight-part limited series. As I began watching the early episodes of Fight Night, I found a story that freely admits that plot elements have been changed for dramatic purposes but still offers a pulpy glimpse at the rise of Atlanta as one of the most prominent cities in the United States. Fight Night may have changed some parts of the actual story, but the talented cast still delivers a fun, watchable true crime series.
Set around Muhammad Ali’s widely publicized comeback fight, Fight Night opens with Kevin Hart playing Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, a small-time entrepreneur looking to make it big. Pitching an after-fight party with invitees including Black crime bosses from around the country, including Frank Moten (Samuel L. Jackson), Cadillac Ritchie (Terrence Howard), and more, Chicken Man and his business partner Vivian Thomas (Taraji P. Henson) are prepared to cross to a new tier of notoriety. With gambling, women, and lots of substances to play with, Chicken Man’s vision of Atlanta becoming a Black Vegas turns into a nightmare when the high rollers at the party are robbed at gunpoint, making away with a million dollars and leaving Chicken Man as the prime suspect. With the cops, led by longtime foe Detective JD Hudson (Don Cheadle, and the crooks on his tail, Chicken Man has to clear his name and find the real thieves. Over the eight-episode series, the story unfolds with the Ali fight taking place at the end of the first episode and the aftermath of the heist taking the remainder of the series.
From the outset, Fight Night is less the story of the various characters involved on both sides of the law but instead the story of how Atlanta went from being another Southern city with a predominantly Black population to a major American city. The perception of Atlanta by characters from New York to Miami plays into the city’s rise as much as it does Chicken Man’s desire to lift himself to another level. The series does this through period-appropriate filmmaking, which gives us a Blaxploitation style look and feel to the episodes, including scene wipes, multi-camera shots showing different angles on the same event, and even a celluloid haze that thankfully avoids an overly clean digital image that almost makes the series feel as if it was made fifty years ago. Several real figures of renown are mixed into the plot, including Muhammad Ali (Dexter Darden) and actress Lola Falana (Lori Harvey).
Fight Night reunites countless actors who have worked together before (Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson) and both who have portrayed James Rhodes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Howard and Cheadle). Everyone in the cast has worked with or knows each other personally, making this series interesting on multiple levels. Seeing Cheadle and Jackson on opposite ends of the law contrasts their MCU roles, while Kevin Hart gets to act opposite a top-notch ensemble. While Fight Night does have a sense of humor, this series is presented as a drama, giving Hart another solid project to stretch his acting past his comedic roots. While Hart does not hold back from being funny when warranted, he is relatively restrained when delivering the laughs. Don Cheadle is also excellent as he plays the first Black detective in Atlanta. Cheadle and Hart share a lot of good screen time, and their dynamic makes the series work well. The rest of the cast chews the scenery without going too broad despite Terrence Howard’s wig and Samuel L. Jackson’s mustache coming close.
Developed by Shaye Ogbonna, the series features a writing staff who use the podcast of the same name as a gold mine of material but still need to add some elements to transform this story from an intriguing idea into an entertaining project. Craig Brewer, best known for Hustle & Flow and Coming 2 America, directed the series and brings the same pulpy sensibility he did in Black Snake Moan and Dolemite is My Name while not sacrificing the important messages underneath the tantalizing elements of the story. Still, in trying to make this story worth watching, Brewer and Ogbonna push close to crossing into parody by filling Fight Night with enough familiar twists that they almost feel cliche. If you check out the podcast or search the true story online, you can easily see where the changes were made, both in condensing the timeline as well as assigning blame to who carried out the crime, but they could have done so in a way that does not feel anticlimactic.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is a good watch that breezes through eight-hour episodes that all drop simultaneously. This is a series that is easy to binge, but it can sometimes be a curse as well. Much of the material in the middle of the series could have been condensed to fit this tale into three or four fewer episodes, with the story’s core not needing to last quite as long as it does. Whether the story intrigues you enough to stick around to find out who actually committed the crime may not be worth eight hours of your time, but this cast is having fun playing these roles, and it is as fun to watch. There is a good amount of violence and nudity to keep even the most jaded viewer entertained. The production values are good enough that I do not have any complaints about the effort that went into making it. Fight Night could have been shorter, but it delivers an intriguing look into a story many may not know even happened, making it worth adding to your watchlist.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist premieres on September 5th on Peacock.