Lionsgate, Mimran Schur Pictures, Solaris,
Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn, Maximiliano Hernández, Bryan Callen, Sam Sheridan, Noah Emmerich, Kurt Angle, Erik Apple
A broken family finds a recovered alcoholic father Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte), alone, his oldest son Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) married with 2 kids, estranged from the rest of the family, and younger son Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) living with Mom, returned from the Marines. Mom has passed on and Tommy returns to his Father, but not willing to forgive him, but needing him to prepare him for a return to the Mixed Martial Arts ring. Meanwhile Brendan is in a hard place, holding several jobs, trying to keep his family together, he decides to return to the MMA tournament as well, unbeknownst to Dad and Tommy setting them up for a huge final match against each other.
I went into this film not expecting much. I am not a fan of people beating the crap out of each other for the benefit of gamblers and people who just love to watch blood sports. This kind of stuff where anything goes, and choking, kicking and breaking bones goes along with punching in an all out battle till one can no longer get up. I was rather surprised by this film after all. Though there’s a lot of battles, there is a pretty good story. Neither son wants to forgive Dad for how he destroyed everyone’s lives with his drinking, but now with 3 years of being sober he just wants to get back together. The pain Nick Nolte is able to bring out really tears at your heart.
Jennifer Morrison plays Tess Conlon, Brendon’s wife. She is a perfect choice and is really supportive and sweet even though it breaks her heart to see Brendon suffer. She’s great in this role. If you don’t recognize the name, she’s Emma, Snow White’s daughter in ABC’s Once Upon a Time. With this excellent cast, the feelings and emotions will set you up for a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Not really at the level of Rocky, but actually a pretty decent film when you get down to it.
I was impressed with it, and glad I made it through the bloody face scenes to get past them for the meat of this movie. It was an enjoyable experience.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
