‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’ Review: The Peacock Show Is A Dud

Peacock’s “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” is the kind of show you hope to root for.

The eight-episode series, which premiered with three episodes last week and is rolling out weekly on the streamer, is based on a true-crime podcast that follows the life of Atlanta hustler Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart).

Chicken Man is tasked with planning a huge party for members of the Black Mafia, including Frank “Black Godfather” Moten (Samuel L. Jackson) and Richard “Cadillac” Wheeler (Terrence Howard). It’s set to occur the night of Muhammad Ali’s return to boxing, after Ali was banned from the sport for refusing to be drafted into the military during the Vietnam War.

Chicken Man runs numbers across the city with his mistress, Vivian (Taraji P. Henson). He hopes getting closer to these big-time gangsters can help him build Atlanta into a Black Mecca ― and build a better future for his wife and kids. Unfortunately, that party goes awry when a few robbers stick up the joint and Chicken Man and his crew have to find a way to live to see another day.

“It was this elite Black crowd from all walks of life coming down to what was slowly becoming a Black city, Atlanta,” series creator and co-showrunner Shaye Ogbonna told USA Today. “It was the gangster class, it was rich folks, it was celebrities all coming together.”

The rest of the cast is stacked, too, with Don Cheadle, Clifton Powell, Sinqua Walls, Myles Bullock and Jalyn Hall co-starring. The Black star power of the series is what has drawn audiences into the show. But does it live up to the hype?

We chat about what works and what doesn’t in the chat below, to help you decide if it’s worth your time.

Along with names like Hart, Jackson and Cheadle, some new-school talent is also in the mix: Walls, Melvin Gregg and Chloe Bailey, just to name a few. That’s honestly the most exciting thing about it to me, especially since it feels like we don’t get these casts as often as we used to.

But that also means it’s a lot going on. And that’s not always a good thing in a story with so many moving parts. It feels like a distraction in certain moments — like Lori Harvey’s brief appearance, which I’m still not convinced we needed — and disappointing in others, like Powell’s role, which criminally underutilizes his talent. There are a few moments that feel overstimulating in the first few episodes — not because the plot is action-packed, but because I had to ask myself what were some of these people doing here. For a few of the side characters, it felt like instead of taking their time to cast the best fit, they chose the biggest name who was available. — Taryn

When “Fight Night” was first announced, the ultra-stacked cast of Hart, Jackson, Cheadle, Howard and Henson immediately caught my attention, like many others. The buzzy names only fueled my excitement around this intriguing story connecting Atlanta and Ali to a high-stakes robbery. Sadly, the individual performances of these seasoned actors — Hart’s semi-dramatic turn gets an ‘E’ for effort — aren’t enough to carry the weight of the show’s busy plot.

“Fight Night” starts off with good momentum by introducing most of the main players, even giving the thieves themselves — Walls, Bullock and Gregg — a chance to shine. The problem is, there are so many characters you almost lose track of who’s who and what their roles are. Powell having a role smaller than David Banner’s feels like a poor choice on the casting team’s part, and I’m still scratching my head over Harvey’s very brief appearance as Lola Falana, seemingly contributing nothing to the main plot. It was nice to see RonReaco Lee and Rockmond Dunbar pop up in the show. But with as many stars as the cast contains, that same effort should’ve gone into fleshing out a story that supports all of their roles. — Njera

I also want to shout out Hall, who has really been bringing it in the roles he’s been choosing lately. I’ve been watching him since “All American” debuted in 2018 and it has been cool to see him grow up onscreen. — Erin

How much do you want to bet that Terrence Howard is wearing his wig right now?

I know y’all remember when he showed up to that interview, which was completely unrelated to promoting this show, in full costume, to talk about “frequency theories.” He’s already a deeply unserious man in my head, based off of the characters he chooses, but the way he’s been galivanting around with this mop on his head takes the cake. He even showed up to the premiere with it, y’all! Based on the hair alone, I really believe Cadillac of “Fight Night,” Lucious Lyon of “Empire” and DJay of “Hustle & Flow” are kin who exist in the same universe.

And even though his was the most egregious, Howard wasn’t the only one with a bad wig.

Banner was unrecognizable in his wig. Cheadle’s was lifting up in the back. And Jackson’s mustache looked so fake that I found myself smacking my lips every time he appeared on screen. I know the wig budget isn’t always the highest, but the issue with that is: We can tell. — Taryn

I can appreciate that “Fight Night” somewhat tried to pay homage to the ’70s with its hairdos and costumes — the latter weren’t that bad. But again, choices were made with the cast’s wigs, and they weren’t good ones. Howard’s is, of course, the most obvious offender. I actually think him doing press in the wig made it impossible for me to take the show 100% seriously. You can add Banner and Atkins Estimond’s (who plays Chicken Man’s crime partner, Silky Brown) ridiculous press and curls to the list, too. I will say they made sure to do right by Henson’s looks throughout the show, but I’m giving a hard side-eye to Bailey’s wig — the way she’s managed to transform her locs in real life, we know they could’ve done better. — Njera

That gray streak in Jackson’s coif is incredible, though. — Erin

By the halfway point of “Fight Night,” it’s clear the eight-episode series could’ve easily been cut in half or been a two-hour film. The show moves past the Ali comeback fight faster than anticipated, before essentially becoming a game of cat-and-mouse to hunt down the thieves behind the heist, a storyline that grows stale way before the series nears its end. To me, “Fight Night” would’ve found better success if it shortened the show order and rolled out all of its episodes at once. I fear by the time the series concludes a month from now, not too many viewers will care to stick it through to the end. — Njera

Everyone I talk about this series with either thinks it’s a film or believes it should’ve been a film. I don’t know if it’s the way it was marketed or if the general consensus is that it makes immediate sense as a blockbuster.

It often falls short, filling every second of the first three episodes with unnecessary side plots and time jumps that could’ve been condensed. There’s a lot of fat here that should’ve been cut. I could see how the creators behind it may have thought its fast pacing could remedy everything they try to pack into the show, but that just makes it even more confusing at times. I agree, Njera, I definitely think they could’ve shortened this. —Taryn

It definitely should have been shorter and all the episodes should have been released at once. The truth is that so many people don’t want to invest their time in a new series, and are going to wait until they can binge a show anyways. There’s legit a survey that studied this habit. There wasn’t enough drawing me back to the series, other than hoping it would get better and wanting to find out how it all ends and if it was going to pay off. Unfortunately, it didn’t for me. — Erin

Dexter Darden as Ali — let’s talk about it. First of all, I couldn’t get over how shallow his portrayal felt or how his voice sounded as if he was mocking Ali throughout his few episodes. That’s not to say he didn’t try to put his best foot forward as the boxing legend, but it just didn’t translate in his performance. Following Will Smith’s award-worthy “Ali” performance is already an unfair task, but perhaps Darden bit off more than he could chew here.

On that note, the order of “Fight Night” gets more confusing as the show progresses. It starts off by juggling Chicken Man’s grand party plan and the lead-up to Ali’s fight, but both seem to become an afterthought after a while once the plot transitions to a citywide manhunt. After the aftermath of the robbery — which felt like a too-early climax — it feels like the true story plot runs out of material and strays further and further from the show’s initial premise. It’s hard to say what the series is still leading up to, with the biggest events taking place early on in the season. Overall, cohesion is the biggest flaw in “Fight Night,” as all the moving parts fail to come together. — Njera

Baby. I wanted to see it. But the way Smith set the bar high as hell in 2001’s “Ali” just ain’t fair. Ali himself had an unmistakable persona that was larger than life. Because of that, it felt like Darden, bless his heart, was trying to impersonate him, not portray him. No shade.

We really could’ve just jumped right into the heist and brought in context of what was going on this night, instead of spending so much time following Ali. I understand they used his story to introduce Cheadle’s character, but there had to have been another way. —Taryn

I also thought Henson’s character, Vivian, was extremely short-changed in terms of writing and backstory. We get to see a bit of her entrepreneurial spirit in the latter episodes, but I would have loved a full episode dedicated to her. With how much time the series spent building out this world, Henson and her character deserved better.

I also am still not over one of the deaths that happens later in the series. I’m still trying to wrap my head around why the writers felt the need to jam these two murders in, so close to the end of the show. — Erin

I actually think the main cast is perfect, with the exception of Hart — that’s mainly because I can’t take him seriously in a dramatic role. Henson, Jackson, Howard and Cheadle make sense in their roles, to the point where I wish we saw a bit more of them on screen.

I’m also enjoying how this series is setting the stage for celebrating Atlanta as a Black Mecca. There are a few fun callbacks to pop culture references, like Chicken Man’s “the South got something to say” line, a quote from André 3000. And as busy and confusing as it is starting out, I can’t say I’m not entertained. Even if I don’t know what the hell is going on in some moments. — Taryn

I agree that the cast is probably the strongest part of “Fight Night.” I just wish the show knew what to do with their talent and characters. It is nice to see this kind of A-list cast for a Black-led show again, and perhaps this will inspire Hollywood to bring back that trend, which seemed more popular in film in the ’90s/early 2000s.

I commend creator and showrunner Ogbonna for creating “Fight Night” as an ode to his hometown of Atlanta, although more glimpses of the city would’ve been nice to paint a better picture of the Black Mecca. However, Hart’s Chicken Man does a good job of championing the then-underdog city as what we now know it to be. — Njera