Before I express my thoughts, I guess I should pre-face this by saying I'm a pretty huge MMA fan, in case anyone thinks that it could play into any biases I may have.
This turned out to be a surprising little movie that's not being marketed in a very good way (which seems to be the sentiment amongst those who have also already seen it). There are a lot of places I expected the story to go, editing-wise, but they held firm in keeping the two storylines on their own paths with little crossover until the end. I really enjoyed the night-and-day approach given to the lives of each brother and how it didn't come off as cliched as it could've been.
This is my first real exposure to Joel Edgerton (outside of his bit role in Star Wars) and I really enjoyed his portrayal as not simply being "The Good Brother" versus Tom Hardy's "The Bad Brother". They each have their demons, their complexities, but still share a lot of similarities and very easily could've gone through the others' chosen path. Speaking of Tom Hardy: Man, I cannot wait to see this guys' performance as Bane. He looks like he's no bigger than a hobbit, with traps the size of a mountain, and yet he came off so intimidating through the screen. This guy can be scary! And Nick Nolte gave one of the most heartfelt performances of the year, as far as I'm concerned. All of the supporting cast was equally done well.
Touching upon what I said above about being an avid MMA fan, I had some concerns about the approach they would give to fight choreography and how much they might exaggerate it for the sake of drama. I can happily say, to those who are like me, that it's the best representation of MMA to date. A few things I could be nitpicky about: the rounds are quick (when they last an average of 5 minutes in real life), the moves are like a highlight real (no decisions, always finishes), etc., but that's neither here-nor-there since film has to make certain concessions, so they're barely even minor gripes. If anything, I found those griefs to be made up for by the fact of how varied the movesets were and how everything wasn't just 90% striking; you get KO's, you get kimura's, omoplatas, triangles, etc. I liked that they showed one brother was a heavy striker while the other was much more proficient on the ground, which is how MMA tends to balance out. All of that said, what you see take place in the cage consists of things that have happened at one time or another in actual fights, however uncommon they might be.
The theater response was really positive; lots of laughs at all the right moments, clapping, cheering, worrying. The laughs, in particular, were not an element I was expecting, but the movie has some pretty good lines. The scenes cutting back and forth with the wife, principal, and students really went over well with people.
If you're an MMA fan, I recommend to shrug off the bland marketing and give this a shot. If you're someone who barely even knows what MMA stands for (mixed martial arts), I still say go see it. You will find something for everyone, whether it be the tension/drama in the fights or a really heartfelt story intertwined with a lot of strong elements. Many may not agree with me, but I enjoyed this more than The Fighter (though there's no real need to compare the two), finding that it did a bit better of a job balancing out both the fighting and family story elments.
