October 8, 2011 -- There have been a lot of movies about fighting, but few have been more personal and emotional than this one about a whole family of fighters divided by a bitter past of desertion, alcoholism, regret and death, all set against the tragedy of health care debt and foreclosure. The story is improbable but the film works because of the searing, emotional performances by all of the actors and the incredibly well-staged fight scenes.

Nick Nolte, who made a big splash 35 years ago as a young boxer in the early TV miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man,” anchors this movie built around a high-stakes mixed martial arts tournament. Nolte plays Paddy Conlon, the father of two fighters in the tournament, the angry loner Tommy Conlon (played by Tom Hardy of “Inception”) and Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton of the upcoming film “The Thing”) a teacher and father who is facing foreclosure on his house. The tournament prize money is his only hope of saving his home.

Both Tommy and Brendan are very angry at their alcoholic father, but Tommy asks him to be his trainer for the tournament, because training was the one thing Paddy was good for. Paddy has been off alcohol for nearly three years and is trying to get his life back together. Tommy is also angry at Brendan for leaving him alone to care for his sick mother when Brendan went off to marry and start his own family. Their mother died with no support and no health insurance. Tommy uses his anger in the ring. It powers him to victory after victory. Brendan is also successful in the tournament. His victories are fueled by desperation. Even though Paddy is training Tommy, he is also rooting for his other son to win. Tommy keeps pouring out his anger on Paddy. Paddy's sobriety seems to make him even more angry. He tells Paddy, “I liked you better when you were drunk.”

There are also some subplots about Tommy's service in war, his devotion to a dead soldier's family and his heroism in saving trapped soldiers. There are other subplots about Brendan's suspension from school for fighting and his students and even his boss, Principal Zito (Kevin Dunn of “Unstoppable”) rooting for him to win the tournament. There is also the matter of Brendan's wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison of “Star Trek”) being opposed to his fighting because of past injuries. Relatively little time is spent on these subplots, but they work pretty well due to some very fine supporting acting performances, particularly by character actor Kevin Dunn, who is memorable in a limited role. The fight scenes are dramatic and very realistic-looking. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2011 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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