Great performance in an unbalanced movie

Rating: 5/10 (5 December 2011)

Well, I have mixed feelings about this movie. All 3 lead actors give a great performance. Not Oscar worthy, if you ask me, but Nick Nolte MIGHT be nominated, as this is his best acting in years and kind of reminds me of James Coburn in "Affliction (1997)" (with Nick Nolte, incidentally) - a performance that I felt was less deserving of an Oscar than his performance in "American Gun (2002)". Tom Hardy, who I came to appreciate since seeing "Bronson (2008)", is great as usual and Joel Edgerton was hard for me to judge, since I'm not really familiar with his work (although as I now check IMDb, he was great in "Smokin' Aces", just like the rest of the cast there).
The movie feels like two movies, quite different in tone, that were mixed into one movie, like a big salad. The first half of the movie elaborates on the background of the dysfunctional family and its inner tensions. The director handles the story very well, with low-key approach (I especially liked Hardy's - how his character was written and how he played the part) and gives the actors a great opportunity to show us a great performance.
That is why I was so let down by the second half. The disappointed starts sharply with a cliché montage of training. It's like we've never seen "Rocky" before. Not only is the story completely predictable, but you get the usual scenes that were done in so many "fighting movies" before: Insertion of "pre-recorded" crowd reactions (that completely break the flow of the fight), a wife that covers her mouth at least 6 times and commentators who are always surprised.
It's almost hard to believe that the two halves of the movie were directed by the same person. I can say the same about the Tess character/actress: It was written/acted pretty well in the first half, but was completely lowered to "cliché level" in the second half.
The fights by themselves were directed well. It's just too bad they had to contain all the flaws I mentioned above, which ruined the enjoyment a bit (I blame both the director and the editor).
All in all, the film is enjoyable. Watch the first half for a good drama and the second half for a cliché fighting story.
5/10 Recommended