An amazing film on so many levels

Rating: 10/10 (17 June 2012)

Being a fairly new fan of mma for under a year this film struck me as one to definitely pick up and view. Needless to say I'm impressed by the director's choice of story, actors and choreography.
An epic tale that unravels itself furthering the on going drama between two brothers. I was apprehensive at first when seeing that this was over 2 hours, but some journeys are worth the regular 90 minutes.
Tom Hardy is an amazing actor, his physical transformation in certain roles eclipses the likes of Bale, De Niro and Theron respectively. Such powerful performances from Jennifer Morrison and Nick Nolte, really sways your kinship of who to route for.
I think this movie speaks volumes on the real life events outside of theatres such as...Kurt Angle at one time wanting to be a legit mma fighter gets to act as one here, plays a cinematic version of Fedor even down to his loss via submission. Anthony Johnson fighting in the middleweight division (a weight class that recently got him cut from the UFC after not being able to shed the pounds). Bryan Callen taking the place of Joe Rogan as a commentator for the fights; replicating similarities of the Fear Factor host. And just the fact that unlike Never Back Down this is a highly successful MMA film that will draw a mainstream audience of non fans about the sport, which is now happening with the UFC's FOX deal and just the popularity of this new platform of combat.
This is one of those films that really put a stamp on the current status of our interests as a society, highly recommended to all.