Tommy was a dick, and other problems.

I get that he had some kind of survivor’s guilt and was bitter and damaged, but his abject loathing for his father was way overcooked.

Nolte spends the whole film sincerely begging for forgiveness and blubbing like a unloved puppy in the rain, but his sons scorn him as if he was a child rapist. Even when he tried to connect with Tommy at the slot machines and tells him he’s proud of him - he gets a face full of coins, an extra helping of abuse, and is told to f**k off... again. He’s only there because Tommy asked him to train him!

After this torrent of abuse he hits the bottle again, breaking his dry record. Well done Tommy 🤦🏻‍♂️ It then doesn’t make sense for Tommy to suddenly take pity on him and help sober him up - where did that come from? He hated his dad.

I honestly thought Nolte would commit suicide and that would bring the brothers together. It was missing certain dramatic beats. We needed to see why they despised him so much - maybe show him drunk and attacking them, and we needed to see why Tommy has a change of heart. Seeing him drunk again doesn’t cut it, if anything it would make Tommy despise him even more by proving he hadn’t changed.

The other brother wasn’t much better, and even when the film ended there was no catharsis, no resolution of the core relationship of the film between the dad and his sons. Maybe they filmed a family dinner scene with everyone and then cut it for being too on-the-nose. Hell, it needed something.

It also wasn’t clear why Tommy breaks at the end. It’s cool that he surrenders, stops being a ‘warrior’ and opens his heart... but why? His brother was telling him he loved him while still beating him up and trying to win the competition. What’s new? There was no selfless act or anything identifiable to cause Tommy’s sudden change of heart.

The acting was great but the script was contrived, so you ended up with characters who behaved incongruently.