Salvable, 2025.
Directed by Bjorn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta.
Starring Toby Kebbell, Shia LaBeouf, James Cosmo, Barry Ward, Shaun Paul McGrath, Aiysha Hart, Elaine Cassidy, Nell Hudson, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Vauxhall Jermaine, and Renu Brindle.
SYNOPSIS:
An aging boxer struggles to escape the grasp of a small town while battling a fractured relationship with his teenage daughter.
A pastiche of boxing, crime, and family clichés, one watches directors Bjorn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta (written by the former), Salvable, unable to stop thinking about one thing: they actually made a movie about a troubled man named Sal and called it SALvable. What makes this more frustrating is that the film does admittedly have a serene small-town setting, an impressively raw and damaged turn from Toby Kebbell, and a moderately intriguing juxtaposition in that the protagonist is a past-his-prime boxer who traded beating opponents in the ring for gentle caretaking of the elderly.
The filmmakers drive that last point home, often cutting from caretaking to a boxing flashback, gym sparring, or a present-day fight. That’s partially because Sal, whose personal life is a disaster, separated from his former partner (Elaine Cassidy), estranged from his teenage daughter (Kíla Lord Cassidy), and now with a girlfriend who doesn’t want to talk to him anymore for not disclosing any of this to him (which suggests he is not necessarily interested in letting her into his life), is thinking about fighting again after reconnecting with Shia LaBeouf’s Vince, recently released from prison and a longtime friend. However, these are not legitimate fights but rather underground street fights shot with appropriate grittiness and primal fury, tossing rules to the wayside.
Sal wants to have a relationship with his daughter and makes concerted efforts to pick her up and spend time with her on his weekends. He is also trying (but mostly failing) to take action and land full custody of her. As for this teenager, she is also a fairly clichéd character, unfiltered, acting out, and getting into trouble at school, likely as a response to the domestic dysfunction. She also finds her stepfather boring, while showing little interest in getting to know her father, who left the family when she was young for even more clichéd reasons. Nevertheless, after observing his genuine sadness upon the death of a resident, she decides to lighten up and give her father a chance, suspecting that maybe he does have a heart for more than boxing.
Without getting into detail, Sal’s personal life goes from bad to worse, further pushing him into working alongside the sociopathic Vince, even when every voice inside his head is telling him to morally object. Nevertheless, Sal is willing to do anything to make some cash, provide for his daughter, and prove his worthiness. There is almost nothing to Vince’s character other than Shia LaBeouf putting on a goofy, unconvincing accent and being presented as a walking poster sign for trouble. Similarly, there isn’t much complexity to their friendship, past or present.
The scenes with Sal and his daughter fare somewhat better, coming across as more personal while elevated by a nuanced, inner-tormented turn from Toby Kebbell. It’s also pleasant to simply see him back in a starring role again, after delivering tremendous motion capture performances in some of the recent Planet of the Apes films. Salvable strives for a lived-in, authentic feel and achieves it through his performance and the presence of some of the cast surrounding him, but the plotting is tired and ultimately lets everyone down. Instead, we wait for the film to run its obvious, generic course. There isn’t much salvageable here.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
