I saw this film over the weekend and had high hopes of knowing the quality of the deep cast. It starred Hugh Jackman and Casey Affleck as close brothers. The setting was 2008 middle America in a rather depressing area where the sun never shined brightly. I’ve seen this style of directing before in other films such as “Valhalla Rising” and “300“. Affleck played an Iraqi war veteran who was out of the military and earning money by doing bare-knuckle fights. He ends up being connected to a rather shady character played by Woody Harrelson who was sort of a slimy fight promoter/loan shark. II have to admit they did a good job of making him unlikeable but I think he was too unlikeable. Usually, even the bad guy has some redeeming qualities.
Spoilers…
Long story short, Affleck ends up on the wrong end of the barrel in this film. The end of this film turns into a revenge flick. Hugh Jackman hunts down Woody Harrelson who he is rightly convinced, killed his brother. I think I missed how he knew it was him, but he was right in this case. I skipped over the directing parallel where Jackman had just gone on a hunting trip and could not even bring himself to pull the trigger on a buck. He didn’t have that problem with shooting Woody Harrelson. This film was a bit of a downer and for that reason, I would not recommend it to people unless they are diehard fans of the actors.
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