I popped his shoulder......

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2012)

An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan, returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport.
As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family.
Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father.
But when Brendan's unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense, winner-takes-all battle of their lives.
This film scores really highly on this site, and for me, i'm really scratching my head as to why.
It's well acted, and is very entertaining, but on the other end of the spectrum, the film is way too long, and predictable.
From the upstart, we know that Brendan is going to come up smelling of roses, because he has the family, Tommy on the other hand, has a huge chip on his shoulder and the attitude as well, any seasoned film goer should know the outcome.
The director does throw a little curve-ball when we learn that Tommy will give his prize money away, but it's far too late to change the mind of the viewer, because Brendan is a nice guy, with all the school behind him.
The three leads though are amazing and really put their all into the film, making that little more watchable.
But for critics saying that this is better than Rocky, they should really throw in the towel.
Good, but not amazing.