A very good movie that deserves to be compared with Rocky. My expectations were just a little too high I think. I say B+

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2011)

"You don't knock him out, you lose the fight. Understand me? You don't knock him out, you don't have a home." After being away from home for a long long time Tommy (Hardy) comes back to see his father Paddy (Nolte). Across town his brother Brendan (Edgerton) is having financial troubles. The only way the two brothers can find a way to make the money they need is by fighting in an MMA tournament. Tommy asks his father to train him and the family dysfunction grows until the tournament. Regardless of what I say here this is a great movie. My problem with this is that I think my expectations were too high. Any movie that draws comparisons to "Rocky" gets my hopes up (like "The Fighter"). Much like "Rocky" though, this movie has the fighting as a secondary plot to the family struggles that are going on. This movie is very interesting in the way that you are not sure who is the "good" brother and are not really sure who to root for the entire time. If you have seen "The Fighter" you may agree with me when I say that the movie was good but Christian Bale's performance made the movie. Nick Nolte gives that kind of performance in this one. He takes a part that could get glossed over and makes it stand out enough that to me he is the front runner for an Oscar. Overall, a very good movie but my expectations were too high to love it as much as I wanted. Of the last "fighting" movies to come out I would have to say this is 3rd on my list. After "The Wrestler" and "The Fighter". Still very much worth watching though. I give it a B+.
*Also try - The Fighter & The Wrestler