Was what was written on the back of one of the coaches' t-shirts. This movie theater was packed with a bunch of dude-bros and their high-maintenance girlfriends (who must've lost the coin toss in deciding what movie to watch). As my sister and I sat through this movie, we laughed, groaned, and then laughed some more as we watched the heart-wrenching tale of two brothers fight in UFC style mixed martial arts.
The story is Rocky-esque where the audience has immediate compassion for the underdog. But the twist is this--are you ready?--he has to fight his brother in the final match. In one corner we have the underdog who spent all his money fixing his daughter's heart. He and his wife have three jobs each and he's also a high school chemistry teacher. In the other corner is Underdog's brother who watched his whole platoon die, and while he was going AWOL "RIPPED OFF THE DOOR OF A TANK!!" to save another platoon that was seconds from dieing. Wow. It's a hard choice to make as to who would win. If Underdog wins, he'll be able to save his home (which is going to be foreclosed any second now). If Heart-of-Gold wins, he's gonna give the $5million prize to his BF's widow as he skips off to jail.
But hold on here: if you think this movie is gonna end sucky, here's the real twist--it's actually pretty good. I attribute the awesome ending to The National whose song "About Today" is very moving. That song mixed with all the tension and drama of the two brothers collide together in the last five minutes of the film to create one of the best endings I've seen all year. Those last five minutes make up for any of the crap from the previous 120. If you're into Rocky, Million Dollar Baby, The Fighter, Cinderella Man, etc., this film is definitely worth your time. If you don't like those films, it's still worth your time.
