Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy is a name all film fanatics are familiar with, and as of 2015 it is a name recognised universally. Starring in films such as The Dark Night Rises (2012), Inception (2010), Bronson (2009) and Warrior (2011), Hardy’s detached and troubled characters are presented as so much more than an actor playing a role. The characters he manifests into feel bona fide, and whilst his obvious talent contributes to that, his life additionally plays a part in the process as it reads like a script, making him a man made for storytelling.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discovered I had not lived. — Walden (Henry David Thoreau) Set in the remote wilderness of Montana and South Dakota in the 1820s, director Alejandro Iñárritu’s biographical western, The Revenant, follows fur trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his remarkable quest of survival and retribution. Having been mauled by a bear and left for dead, Glass must find a strength and resolve to overcome the elements and fight his way back to civilization while attempting to have a cathartic release from his experiences.

The time has come to continue the series on the best knockout films of all-time. The goal is to share my ten favorite movies of this genre, which may include boxing, mixed martial arts, and wrestling, to name a few. If you are just joining the discussion, the series started with a review of the 2004 Best Picture winner Million Dollar Baby, and a review of the 2014 Best Picture nominee Foxcatcher.

From the minute of its inception I had high hopes for Legend. An earlier attempt at a biopic of the infamous Kray twins has largely been forgotten, starring as it did the brothers from Spandau Ballet. But this one, starring Tom Hardy as both Ronnie and Reggie, with a plethora of great British actors in supporting roles, looked promising.

Mad Max: Fury Road, the latest from Australian director George Miller, is overtly, and perhaps primarily, an action film. The vast majority of its two hour runtime is devoted to a single unrelenting chase sequence; it both drives the narrative and provides a platform for the manic and brilliantly staged action set-pieces which will define the film for many audiences.