It's a painful and disturbed childhood for brothers Tommy Conlon (Hardy) and Brendan Conlon (Edgerton), courtesy a Mixed Martian Art (MMA) fighter-turned-alcoholic dad, and a mother who can't take any more of her husband. Naturally then, the couple choose to split thereby putting an end to not just the brotherly bond between Tommy and Brendan, but also their training in MMA. Now fourteen years later, the brothers once again are face to face when they return to the ring, fighting against each other. But are the brothers actually facing each other as mere opponents or are the two fighting their ghost from the past?
Movie Review : This one's high on testosterone -- brutal martial arts with solid punches. And it's equally high on EQ too -- emotionally packaged with rewards. On one hand there's Brendan, a fighter-turned-physics teacher who can barely make ends meet for his wife and two daughters. On the other hand is Tommy, an ex Marine guy on the run from Iraq who too is on the lookout for ways better to earn a livelihood. What better way to earn that fast buck than put their childhood skills into practice. The duo enroll for an MMA Sparta competition to win that a cash prize of $ 5million. That's when the brothers meet (along with their father) after fourteen odd years. Simple? Not really. For the brothers have to fight each other...Tommy has to get back to daddy for that extra lesson on MMA -- something he just can't get himself to believe...Brendon first has issues of the past to be resolved with his father. And that's where you realise that it's not just about a battle of the biceps, but about a troubled past, moments of regrets and coming to terms with family equations.
Cut to the performances. While Edgerton's Brendon is a perfect picture of controlled anger -- he's a family man who'd rather get beaten up in the ring than lose his family, Hardy (with barely any words on screen ) as Tommy keeps us wondering as to what lies beneath that hard exterior and heated moments. Of course, we get to see the EQ when he gets his dad to train him without 'mending any fences' ... and when he faces his brother in the ring. As for dad Paddy (Nick Kolte), all he yearns for is forgiveness from both his sons for what he failed to deliver. Deliver he does, at least in his convincing performance as a conflicted dad.
So who really wins the contest? Do we really care? Not really, for the MMA moments leave a lasting impression even after their punches. Emotional punches, we mean. |
