I like to think that I'm a Michelle Rodriguez fan. I enjoy most of the movies she has been in thus far, most notably the The Fast And The Furious films as well as her stint on LOST. But for whatever reason, I've kept putting off seeing her film debut which is Girlfight. I've known about the movie for ages and for whatever reason, I just never got around to seeing it....til now. The opening shot, as in the very first frame of the movie, we see that vintage glare of hers and I was like "Hell yeah"! Come on, to see that she had that glare in her first film let alone the first scene does give one a sh*t-eating-grin on one's face.

As for Girlfight, I was actually very surprise at how good the movie is overall. It's a nice little low budget film that reminded me a lot of another film set in high school, a film that is one of my all time favorites: The Bodyguard. There are a lot of similatiries between the two as far as style and content. In both films it's a coming-of-age tale. But in Girlfight, it's also about self empowerment for Diane Guzman (Michelle Rodriguez). Even though this film is framed within the boxing world, there's more than meets the eye with this story. For one thing, we aren't really told why Diane decides to take up boxing in the first place. It's only later when it's revealed does it make sense. Although I did suspect it earlier on. I won't say what it is because it would absolutely ruin it for anyone that has yet to check out this little gem of a movie. Watching Michelle in this, you could instantly tell that she had that 'It' factor and that she would go onto bigger films and have a standout career. So far so good.....

As good as the movie is, I do think that the "big fight" at the end was a bit of a let down and didn't deliver what I was hoping for. But then again, I am coming from being a huge fight fan and maybe it was my fault to expect someting on a grander scale like that of Rocky Balboa. But that's just a bit unrealistic on my part to expect this little film to be bigger than it could ever be.

I highly recommend this as a Rental for sure, if not a Buy.