Most of us can probably relate to Miguel, at least for a while, in the new movie, Miguel Wants to Fight. Because it’s quite clear Miguel does not want to fight, and never has. He’s a teenager living in a somewhat rough neighborhood in New York, he’s obsessed with kung fu movies, and he likes to make short films casting himself and his friends in various fighting scenarios. He’s pretty good at it, too.
One day, one of Miguel’s friends gets into a fight playing basketball, and everyone jumps in and starts whaling away on each other. Everyone except Miguel, that is, who sort of just stands around looking like he knows he should do something, but he doesn’t. No one really notices that Miguel doesn’t participate, which it turns out has been the case every time there’s been a fight, as the kid has never once been in one, despite ample opportunity. When this is revealed, Miguel decides the time has come, and he’s going to pick a fight with someone. He just has to figure out who.
This sort of movie can sometimes feel like it’s trying way too hard, especially when we’ve got a group of wisecracking teenagers, but director Oz Rodriguez adds an unexpected energy to the filmmaking, and the kids are genuinely funny in their banter and performances. As Miguel imagines how his fights might play out, Rodriguez tosses us into different styles of movie fights—we see Miguel imagine himself as Bruce Lee in a tournament, we see him as Neo in The Matrix, we see him as an anime character, and so on. And even if Rodriguez goes to this well one or two times too many, most of the scenes are put together lovingly and with some verve, and the movie’s only about 70 minutes long anyway. Miguel Wants to Fight is a nice little summer surprise: It gets in, gets out, has fun doing it, and takes the win on style points.
Miguel Wants to Fight is on Hulu.
