I wonder if Beethoven could ever have imagined his “Ode to Joy” could have been the underscore for a visceral drama that sees men knock seven bells out of each other? Traumatised by his wartime experience, “Tommy” (Tom Hardy) looks up his alcoholic father “Paddy” (Nick Nolte) to see if he will help him train for the ultimate MMA prize fight. This isn’t a relationship made in heaven, indeed it is soon apparent that his childhood was always subject to the mood swings of a father permanently sozzled. Dad, now, has not had a drink for over 1,000 days and so maybe there is hope of some sort of reconciliation? Meantime, his brother “Brendan” (Joel Edgerton) is struggling to make ends meet as a school teacher and he too is thinking of rejuvenating his own MMA career. He’s been doing some car-park stuff to earn extra cash, but that hasn’t impressed “Tess” (Jennifer Morrison) who has the kids to bring up and doesn’t want an husband battered and bruised. Now the family melodrama didn’t do much for me: the brothers have even more baggage with each other than with their dad and those dysfunctional relationships are nothing new, but along the way they do give Nolte a chance to deliver his best role since “Prince of Tides” in 1992. The action photography is excellent and both Edgerton and Hardy sink their teeth into the roles providing us with quite a gritty and authentic look at how tough it is to fight whilst you have a crowd baying for blood yards away. It’s powerfully scored and tautly concluded to leave you feeling you’ve been in that cage a little, too, and is way more than just a sport-themed sweat-fest.