To me, this movie is perfection.

Sadly Over-hyped

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

What doesn't kill you, makes perfect sense for this film. It seems Paulie and Brian (Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo)do everything they can to survive in South Boston. Growing up together, Brian and Paulie go through everything to be able to live and raise families. This gritty story can't be more realistic, with the real life events come to life. Living in tough times is relatable to more people than realised, that's why this story really hits home, with brilliant screen play by to of the most highly underrated actors, Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo.7/10 for this gritty drama.

Review: I was quite looking forward to this movie because of the cast and the promising advert, but as usual, I found the movie pretty disappointing. The film starts off well, but then it slows down and gets a bit boring. All of he actors put in good performances and the storyline was quite interesting, because it was true, but it takes a while to get going. The 2 main characters seem to get away with everything without any comebacks, so its turns out to be, in some ways, quite predictable. I was hoping for a violent Goodfellas, but the pace was too slow along with the storyline which could have been a lot better. Watchable!Round-Up: Since 2008, Mark Ruffalo's career has blossomed by staring as the Hulk and doing a good job of it. The movie doesn't seem dated, but there was quite a few gangster movies out during this period which is why it was a good choice to bring the movie to DVD now. It doesn't fall in the same category as some of the classic gangster movies that came out during this period, but it does show a more that some people do eventually grow a conscience after doing bad throughout there life's. For entertainment, it did lack the whole "Bad Man" flavour, which was a shame because they had all of the ingredients. Maybe the director chose to stick with true events except for going for the shock value.I recommend this movie to people who like there crime/Boston gangster movies which is based around 2 lifelong friends. 4/10

This is a down to earth movie in ways the average person cannot know about. There is a way to make a living going day to day lying, cheating, robbing and stealing and this movie keys into it. What you will see here is nothing new. The actors and story effectively convey the hopelessness and no future in this street fighting life. The film captures how you live from one problem to the next buying time in between. Child hood friends growing up with dysfunction is well portrayed here. When love and stability are missing at home, the streets serve as a pseudo mother and father loving you for all the wrong reasons. Getting high, drunk, showing off, bullying people and wanton disregard for woman and authority is in your face showing itself to be not acceptable, but that is all there is in this life. The prison scenes were mild compared to what really happens in there. The actors and the plot effectively convey that it takes more courage to not live this life than to live correctly and earn your right day by day. We are also reminded that when one of the lead actors to atttempts break free, he definitely changes the course for the better for all people in his life. This film will convey a sobering thought. We may not know what things are and which way to always go, but we sure know what they are not and what not to do...Popcorn, a tasty drink and some snack for this one...and look forward to some quality acting by both lead players...Well done

This movie was your typical connect-the-dots street crime drama. You have your cookie-cutter bad-guys as good-guys setup, Ethan Hawke playing against type, the dumb mom with a heart of gold who can't resist her sadistic, flunky husband, etc., etc, etc. All of this would have been fine if not for three major problems: 1) the acting sucked. (2) the editing sucked. (3) The pacing was awful.I'm not going to get too into the bad acting. Bad acting is bad acting. A bunch of guys shouting "hey, where you going?" to each other for the better part of 2 hours gets old fast, and requires little subtlety or range. I won't linger on the film's pacing, either. You can see for yourself that there are several slightly interesting street scenes among the main characters, and then these slow, tedious, pointless domestic scenes that try to illustrate just how low these low-lives really are.The true sin this film commits is in its editing. First question - why is it ALWAYS winter? This entire film supposedly spans about 20 years. Yet every scene is set in gray, cold, bleak weather. Adding insult to injury is the director and editor's inability to be consistent about what kind of permanent winter they're trying to capture here. Repeatedly throughout the entire movie there are juxtapositions of scenes where one scenario plays out with six inches of fresh snow on the ground - then cuts away instantly to what logically plays out as something that is happening only a few hours or even just minutes later - with NO SNOW on the ground! This happens constantly, back and forth, back and forth, snow/no snow, snow/no snow. It's like, what the hell's the deal with this? Is it winter or not? Or is it late October? and how can it go from looking like the middle of January one minute, to the beginning of November the next, with reddish leaves on the trees and softer sunlight? Truly an editing disaster, and unless it was supposed to be symbolic of something, utterly pointless. As is most of this movie, aptly titled "What Doesn't Kill You." The rest of the phrase is, "Makes You Wish It Had." At least, that's the case here.