Goes for the obvious

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2012)

I watched this movie for Tom Hardy, and his performance was excellent as per usual, so I am being generous in my rating of 7 because of this because it should be more like a 5 or 6. It was just too clichéd. The story was OK, I liked the whole idea of the physics teacher moonlighting in MMA, but it seemed to stretch reality at some points in a film that is trying to be serious. There could of been a few more scenes to the story to add more dimension and give more depth to the characters relationships so it wasn't so clichéd (I think it could be more moving in the end if it had done this - seriously at the end I knew I was supposed to be moved but I wasn't). For example the Dad did some bad stuff, but what exactly, why did they leave? What was the brothers relationship like before all the crap went down? Etc. I am a viewer that definitely doesn't need everything spelled out, and I like when films leave some mystery, but there wasn't enough here to emotionally invest me. And when the film does reveal a hidden secret I was kind of disappointed, it went for the obvious at every turn, The performances in this movie are great, especially Nolte and Hardy, and that is what the film relies on to get our sympathies. With different actors the film would have really not been that good, so I would give the director/story and all other aspects of this film a 5, the acting around an 8, again I am being generous with a 7 rating. It is definitely worth watching, and entertaining, but anyone with half a brain will know what is going to happen in the end half way through the movie, and will even know the plot surprises before they are revealed, because the film goes for the obvious.