Director Gavin O'Connor paid special attention to the life of the character when he wrote the script, and used a lot of space to introduce the life of Tommy Rielden played by Tom Hardy, his past and current situation, and so on. It also took a lot of time to introduce the life of his brother Braden. By clearly introducing the lives of their two protagonists, you can easily show why they took the road of free fighting, because life is their motivation for making this choice, and it is also a state of the characters. A movie cannot be without conflict. In the movie, conflict is expressed between brothers and father and son. From this point of view, this is a family drama, because all the stories and contradictions occur between family members.
The free fight that appears in the film is called MMA in the United States, which is the abbreviation of Mixed Martial Arts. Because this kind of movement is so cruel, even in the United States, it is a minority movement. Athletes are placed in iron cages to compete, so this sport is also called "cage fighting." Director Gavin O'Connor believes that MMA is an element, which is seen in many action movies, so he presents this kind of game in the movie in its original form. And this kind of men's sport, only tough guys and real men who don't succumb to life will love it. In addition, this movie tells a story between three men, and MMA is more suitable for the tone of the whole movie.
