A robbery that happened the night of Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight is the center of the upcoming Peacock series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. Based on the true story and podcast of the same name, the series follows Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams and how a party he threw the night of the fight turned into a bloody warfare. Shaye Ogbonna created the series, featuring a star-studded cast with Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, and Taraji P. Henson.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist Review
Chicken Man wants nothing more than to be the big dog in Atlanta and turn it into the new Las Vegas. With everyone in town for Muhammad Ali’s return to the boxing ring, Chicken Man pleads, begs, and lies his way to convince kingpin Frank Moten to come to his party after the fight. The night is turned upside down when a group of men rob hundreds of people at the party, and Chicken Man is seen to be the prime suspect in the robbery.
The creators of these series had to get one vital factor right for audiences to fully immerse themselves in the show, that being the vibes. You are in the 1970s in Atlanta, Georgia, with crime bosses, boxing fights, and a heist, so you must make the series authentically pleasing. From the opening title sequence, the costume, production, and art direction teams deserve massive credit for brilliantly setting the vibes.
The cast in Fight Night: Million Dollar Heist is star-studded, and when you are juggling that type of talent, you need a veteran capable of handling the talent while also bringing this type of era to life. It doesn’t shock me that they brought veteran director Craig Brewer, known for his work on Dolemite Is My Name and Hustle & Flow, to direct the show’s first and last two episodes. Brewer’s distinct ability to capture the audiences’ attention in how he shoots the series allows viewers to see what he wants them to see to enable the thrilling moments to be amplified.
We all know that Kevin Hart is one of the funniest comedians. However, as we saw in the 2021 series True Story, Hart can do more than make us laugh. Hart leans into his comedic chops for his portrayal of Chicken Man, a hustler trying to hustle his way to the top. Still, it’s the in-between moments that force Hart to deliver sincerity with his facial expressions that impressed me. While Hart is very good in this, I would love to see him work one day with a top-flight director in a 100% series role to showcase his abilities.
While I have high praise for Hart and the ensemble cast, the two stars of this show are Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson. Cheadle plays Detective JD Hudson, a hard-nosed by-the-book police officer who struggles with his job because of the color of his skin. Hudson fights the good fight but faces a daily uphill battle at his job and with the people within the city.
I understand that much of this generation knows Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine. But before his time in Marvel, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Hotel Rwanda and delivered a phenomenal performance in 2007’s Reign Over Me. It was refreshing to see Cheadle sink his teeth into a role of this nature again.
As for the legend Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the badass man in charge, Frank Moten. On the surface, Moten is a smooth-talking businessman trying to raise the bar for his people. However, after the robbery, Moten goes from a nice guy to sticking the hounds on everyone to find out who did it. Jackson is a certified ruthless badass in this show. Every time he was on the screen, he ate it up and struck fear in those around him.
Many of the pieces of Fight Night: A Million Dollar Heist come together nicely. However, a few minor things about the series brought my score down. The show had a few too many subplots, which caused the ending to feel a little messy. I like the ending quite a bit, but how we got there felt off because of the closing chapters of overcooked stories. Another thing that bothered me was how late it was to reveal whodunnit. The reveal was brilliant, but had it done an episode earlier, the impact would’ve been far more significant.
Is Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist worth watching?
My expectations for Fight Night: A Million Dollar Heist were high, and I walked away very happy with the result. The razor-sharp script, paired with one of the year’s best ensembles, delivers a gritty, dark heist series you don’t want to miss. I could go on and on about this cast because everyone played their part in elevating this show to another level. Peacock jumpstarts the fall TV season with a banger.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist first two episodes are streaming on Peacock
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist Season 1 Review – A Dazzling Eight Round Bout
While most of the series takes place out of the ring, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is a twelve round blood bath. A gritty heist thriller that is aesthetically pleasing.
