Also worth watching if you don't like boxing

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2015)

I watch a surprising amount of sports movies for a guy who doesn't give a flying monkey about sports in general. Okay maybe not that many but I do make exceptions in certain cases. The reason I saw this one is because Jake Gyllenhaal, one of the greatest actors of his generation chose to act in it. And believe you me, Gyllenhaal lives up to his excellent reputation again, you can actually blindly go see any movie with him in it and not be disappointed. One of the most important things in a movie is that you care what happens to the characters and by casting Rachel McAdams and Gyllenhaal you'll care a lot. Boxing movies for the rest mostly follow the same pattern (if you've seen a few you know what I mean) and this one is not that different from most other except that the centerpiece of the film is not the boxing match but what goes on in this boxers life. An excellent movie and worth a watch even if you don't like sports or boxing movies.