The Best Fight Movie You'll Ever See... I Doubt It.

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2013)

I've given the movie 8-stars because it is top quality entertainment, no doubt about that, but I do have a few minor criticisms.
A movie should never sow doubts of credibility in your mind. When this happens you lose the illusion that you're there, that it's really happening, the immersion factor, which is what happened to me.
I'm not a huge fan of MMA or UFC simply because I don't have regular access to it, but I do watch three or four fights from time to time. So where was the blood? Sometimes there can be pools of the stuff. My biggest criticism though was the three arm lock victories IN A ROW. Do you think it's easy to win by an arm lock tap-out victory? Sure, one quick punch, or flurry of punches can end a fight quickly, but not three arm locks against three different opponents. Also, the final, where Conlan (the arm lock expert) breaks his brother's arm to effectively win the tournament, was a little too much one trick pony for me. OK, it's perfectly feasible to win an MMA fight with an arm lock tap-out, but that third victory was the spell-breaking moment of the film.
Normally when I'm thrown out of my believability zone so heavily, I downgrade my review to a six or seven, but up until then this was 9.5 material. I'm disappointed because this could have become a repeat watching experience, growing in stature each time, instead of being a good film, worth the entry fee, but ultimately flawed.
With heavy heart, this film sinks into the pack of decent fight films, but nothing more.