The new ROCKY

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2012)

OK i'll try and give a short review on this film as i'm knackered. It deserves more.
The characters and plot IMO is much deeper than other films in the genre like "the fighter". The plot seems simpler when you try to define it, but demands more questions.
This is a modern day Rocky without unnecessary polar training and the "eye of the tiger" and with a better developed family of characters. At one point i did think the baywatch theme was going to break out before a match but alas it didn't happen and i was left disappointed.
The main reason i like this film is that you end with a fight and unlike any other, you don't know who you want to win. I guess this is inevitably the point of the film and the directors do well to balance the favoritism of both main characters. However, I do feel I ended up siding with the older brother only because he had more focus on him and became the underdog, even though i had more sympathy for the circumstances of the younger brother. But then i am a younger brother so maybe biased.
Possibly the father's character could have been better defined. What exactly did he do to destroy his family other than being a ballsy drunk? Nick Nolte seems too nice and gained a lot of sympathy. The darker side of his character should have come out more, possibly. His short drunken episode which bonded him and son jr was too minimilised. I would have liked to see some carnage there.
Quite a long film but worth the time as you wont look away, especially towards the last 45 mins.