'The Hammer' Official Trailer, A Movie Based on the Life of Matt Hamill

by Anton Tabuena on Oct 23, 2011 1:00 PM EDT in UFC Video

Matt Hamill's long time friend, and former UFC champion, Rich Franklin will also be on the movie playing his wrestling coach.

The premiere of 'The Hammer', a movie about the life of NCAA wrestling champion, and UFC fighter, Matt Hamill, is set for October 27. It has been getting good reviews and awards so far, and they say that one of the great things about the movie, is how they excellently transition from scenes with, and without sound, giving the audience an excellent perspective and grasp on deaf life.

Stay tuned as Bloody Elbow will also be having a review about the film in the coming week, but first, do check out the first official trailer below:

The story circulates mostly about Matt Hamill's inspirational run on his wrestling career as he became the first deaf athlete to win an NCAA title. Here's the movie plot from imdb (which the users have rated with 8.2 out of 10 stars):

THE HAMMER is a sports drama depicting the struggles and successes Matt Hamill faces on the way to becoming a champion. Raised among those with the ability to hear, Matt later finds himself no less an outsider amidst the Deaf Community. Through sheer determination, he uses his perceived disability as an asset, and becomes both the first deaf wrestler to win a National Collegiate Championship and an inspirational force to the hearing and deaf alike.

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Comments

Hamills story is uplifting. Im gonna seek this movie out and watch it, Im a fan. Hamill always seemed like a good dude, Im sorry he wasnt more successful in the UFC. Also, was that Ron Paul?

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by ProfessorBLove on Oct 23, 2011 1:04 PM EDT reply actions

Rich Franklin is... THE HAMMER

Could have found a better picture to use for this story, no?

by Elaine on Oct 23, 2011 1:10 PM EDT reply actions

The only way I would watch this is if...

Rich liver kicks Hamill on the big screen. More interested in that.

by Bombadilillo on Oct 23, 2011 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions

epic soundtrack on this one

by fontgangsta on Oct 23, 2011 1:14 PM EDT reply actions

This looks exactly like the type of movie I never enjoy, tacky sentimental drama feel-goodery. I’ve also never understood the appeal of the “based on true story” selling point, which is used extremely liberally. Either show me a documentary, or make up your own story to tell. In conclusion, I won’t be watching this movie.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 1:39 PM EDT reply actions

You're just my type of asshole

by KidCanada on Oct 23, 2011 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions

As a rule I don’t watch movies that use “uplifting” as part of their marketing catch. And there is never a reason to make movies based on recent events. You want to make “based on” movies, they better be based on another fucking era of history. Otherwise you make a documentary.

by crazybones on Oct 23, 2011 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions

That is true, if it happened in the olden times it’s ok. But I sure won’t be going out of my way to watch the drama made about those Chileans who were trapped in a mine for a few weeks last year.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions

127 Hours....

was awesome, but I generally agree with you on that front.

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 7:48 PM EDT up reply actions

No, no!

Honestly, I though it was shit, didn’t like it at all. I never got any sense of sympathy whatsoever for the main character and with his silly “extreme!” attitude and stupid choices. The flashbacks he was getting were very lame and didn’t make any sense, or fit into the overall picture. Overall I thought the movie was tacky and badly made, which was a little surprising since I had heard a lot of good things about it.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 8:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I couldn't disagree with you more...

maybe it’s because I followed that story very closely as I lived out west canyoneering and hiking a lot at the time and listened to a lot of the same music, plus I’m a huge Danny Boyle fan so I dig his style, but I thought the movie was great.

In real life, him not telling anyone where he went was actually an exception to one of his main rules (the movie made it seem like he did it all the time which isn’t true), but at the time, he had solo hiked 33 of Colorado’s 50 14,000+ foot peaks in the dead of winter and survived an avalanche (ironically, the only parts of his body that weren’t buried in the avalanche were his head and his right arm- the one he’d end up losing at Blue John), so I can see how after managing such high risk he saw the day hike to Blue John as low risk. The hallucinations actually happened, as did the video diary… you needed to include them as otherwise the movie would have only taken place in the canyon, which would have been rough. Aron Ralston himself said that it was as close to a documentary as possible. I cried like a baby when he got rescued.

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha!

Okay, that’s fine. I understand how it could mean more for you than me. For me it has no added value whatsoever that it was based on a true story, I just watch it as any other movie. And like I said I could not identify or sympathize in any way with this guy, who frankly seemed like a bit of a dick in the movie.

I understand however that apparently folk in general seemed to like it very much. Myself, I couldn’t really understand why. My cynical side would assume that it was simply a case of people going “oooh this really happened! and he had to cut of his arm! I hear it’s going to be gory!”, and from that somehow made a bad movie into something better than it really was (than it would have been without the “realness” factor). A lot of hype for nothing. You also have to be aware that I’m a grumpy asshole with a very particular taste, and dislike most things in general.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 9:32 PM EDT up reply actions

it's okay man.

You clearly just have terrible taste. :) Do you like Danny Boyle? Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, etc? He’s achieved Coen Brothers, Chris Nolan or Kubrick status to me, in that I’ll give whatever he makes a shot. I guess you’re just waiting with baited breath for the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

And c’mon- you have to admit that no matter the reason, cutting off your own arm then repelling down a 60 foot face after drinking your own piss and being stuck for 5 days is pretty badass. In college, we used to call that “coyote arm”- to be used when you take a big girl home from the bar when you’re wasted, then wake up in the morning with her sleeping on your arm- you should be willing to gnaw your own arm off so as not to wake her while you make your stealthy exit. It should now be called “Ralston-ing.”

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha! I did not like Slumdog Millionaire. It was too cheerful and happy for me. I also don’t like India and Indians in general (sorry!). Trainspotting is golden though, don’t remember if I’ve seen 28 Days Later. I didn’t watch the Swedish version of Dragon Tattoo, and I sure as hell won’t be watching the Hollywood version. What’s up with you yanks and your damn remakes by the way? Is it really that hard to read subtitles? God! That shit really annoys me.

Well yeah, of course it’s a pretty cool story. I don’t think it’s enough to base a movie upon though, as I’ve made abundantly clear. Definitely a badass move though.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 9:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Slumdog was too cheerful for you??

I mean, I know that he ends up winning the money, but the kid’s life up until that point is utter hell. And I hear you about India- I have to shower after watching movies about that place. Also, agreed about American remakes- it’s all for the obese plebes living in the midwest. I saw El Orfonato in a, um, let’s just say rough part of town, and about 1/3rd of the theater walked out when they realized it was in Spanish with subtitles. Direct quote from someone near me: “ain’t any of this movie in American?”

Did you see Trollhunter? I loved that shit. I also need to see Let the Right One In. Sweden’s going to become the new Hong Kong in terms of American studios getting their source material.

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 10:07 PM EDT up reply actions

whoops

Trollhunter was Norweigan- you all look and sound the same to us ugly Americans. I bet you look like Technoviking.

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Nah, well. When I lived in Norway I used to have a friend called Techno-Thomas. Pretty cool guy, he had a tattoo that said “I (heart) Techno”

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 10:21 PM EDT up reply actions

lol, nice. Yeah, and you even do it with British movies and TV-series, for god’s sake! Everything has to fit that ‘murican model to a tee, or else it won’t work apparently. Yuck!

Well, that movie, Let The Right One In, I really liked (the Swedish version). So that one I can recommend. Other than that we honestly don’t make many good ones though, not very often. I would say actually that Norway makes better movies than us in general, like Trollhunter that you mentioned. I thought it was good, not great. I mean yeah it was a pretty cool idea and very well-produced for being a relative low-budget thing, but I thought the acting and the story was somewhat lacking at times. See, here I go again with my negativity.. can’t help it!

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Out of curiosity what type of movies do you like?

by Fedornuthugger on Oct 23, 2011 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Swedish movies...

and German scheisser videos.

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Good one, I laughed aloud. Horselover Fat does seem like an angry individual! At least he admitted though which makes him pretty likable.

by Fedornuthugger on Oct 23, 2011 9:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I love Horselover.

I’ve never thought of him as an angry dude…this is the most worked up I’ve ever seen him, which is highly entertaining.

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 10:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha! Thanks. Yeah, I mean, I try to not let it out too often. I’m very much an elitist when it comes to culture, I get genuinely angry at music or films I don’t like it. It really winds me up, I can’t listen to commercial radio for example.

But I would say in general I tend to like movies that dare to be a bit different or weird, if that makes sense. Off the top of my head some of my favorites would be stuff like Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, Leon, Dr Strangelove, Oldboy, Battle Royale, Full metal Jacket, etc. Out of recent movies I would say I really liked Inception and Black Swan.

Looking at what I just wrote it’s nothing too radical I guess, just well made movies really.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 10:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Oldboy was amazing.

I like almost all the movies that you listed. Do you like the Big Lebowski?

"You never know. I don't know. You know?" -Nick Diaz

by John Danaher's Hair on Oct 23, 2011 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m not sure. I think I watched it like a decade ago but I can’t remember much about it. I know it’s supposed to be very good though, so maybe I should get around to re-watching it sometime.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 10:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair enough. Your list is pretty mainstream actually.

by Fedornuthugger on Oct 23, 2011 10:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, exactly. Still though, movies like those are like 1 out of 100 (or 1000). I’m a bit hyperactive or whatever so it’s a big commitment to sit down and watch a 2 hour movie. So I try to make sure that when I do watch one, it has to be damn good.

by Horselover Fat on Oct 23, 2011 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Its a real shame Hamill acted like a douche on TUF.

They did things like touch drills and he was pounding on the other guys hard. Ignoring his translator when he was told what to do. Sure its a nice touchy feely story but I really don’t like the guys personality. This kind of thing makes me wonder about Blind Side, and all those other movies that portray some sports figure as the worlds underdog and a saint.

by Bombadilillo on Oct 23, 2011 1:47 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t think he acted like a douche.

He acted like a guy with very little experience and communication problems.

The only doucherbaggery I saw was when his teammates were making fun of him behind his back (literally) and mimicking his speech impediment.

by Steve4192 on Oct 23, 2011 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh they were dicks too.

Communication problem? He had a full time translate. you telling me he cant understand what a touch drill is? I call bullshit on that. Theres a tendency to see the deaf guy and get the underdog vibe. I just think Hamill is a douche completely independently of his deafness.

by Bombadilillo on Oct 23, 2011 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Isn’t basing someone on TUF a bit unfair though? I mean, this is an edited show that has proven to portray guys in certain ways. Also, the living conditions were not normal living conditions. One thing is that you generally don’t hear people, whether they are trainers, training partners, or anything speak badly about Hamill. I remember Tim Boetsch for example saying great things about Hamill like how Hamill went to have a drink with him after they fought. Also, it’s been years since Hamill has been in the TUF house, so he could have simply matured since then as well.

Check out the C&D Channel on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/Gobusiness123 for MMA reviews, predictions, analysis, and other MMA related content.

by chrisbboy82 on Oct 23, 2011 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions

He had a full time translate.

Assuming you mean “translator”, I’m pretty sure that that was only at the gym and Ortiz paid for that out of pocket. Hamill can read lips, it’s not like he couldn’t communicate with other folks there.

And no I don’t see how he acted like a douche at all, edited or not.

I became a fan when Mike Nickels kneed him in the jaw just as Hamill grabbed the leg, and Hamill didn’t even flinch, and lifted his leg and dumped him on the floor. After that Nickels was literally running away from Hamill for much of the rest of the match. Was hilarious.

by Chromium on Oct 23, 2011 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I didn't think he was a douche at all.

Liddell: 'I'll fight anyone, Silva? Yeah sure, Quinton Jackson? Sure, Randy Couture? Sure'

Reporter: 'What about Fedor Emelianenko?'

Liddell: 'Well if I'll have to...I'll fight him...if I have to'

by tkotom on Oct 23, 2011 9:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Just look at that face

That’s acting ladies and gentlemen. Bravo, Rich, bravo..

"Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?"
"I'm a locksmith... and i'm a locksmith."

by Goonisis on Oct 23, 2011 1:55 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs

Is this going to involve his UFC career at all?

Or is it going to end with his wrestling career?

KEMvP

"You know Joe, if Keith Jardines last name was Johnson, the nickname 'The Dean of Mean' wouldn't work at all."

by T.C. Engel on Oct 23, 2011 1:58 PM EDT reply actions

They showed a tiny clip of MMA action where kid Hamill is punching that dude on the football field.

by gzl5000 on Oct 23, 2011 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

He was delivering some serious GNP from mount

by savik on Oct 23, 2011 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow

I feel like a moron now.

KEMvP

"You know Joe, if Keith Jardines last name was Johnson, the nickname 'The Dean of Mean' wouldn't work at all."

by T.C. Engel on Oct 23, 2011 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

It doesn’t involve his UFC career at all.

by Steve4192 on Oct 23, 2011 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions

wonder why they changed the name of the movie from Hamill to the hammer all of a sudden.

by jirlow on Oct 23, 2011 2:02 PM EDT reply actions

Because it's catchier

by Chromium on Oct 23, 2011 10:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Hopefully, Pa Cox is nicer to Matt than he was to Dewey

by Steve4192 on Oct 23, 2011 2:03 PM EDT reply actions

Hey its Aldo from Justified!

by phillyhoosfan on Oct 23, 2011 2:07 PM EDT reply actions

Interesting culture study in this movie.

The original lead actor was replaced because of outcry from the Deaf community. Even though he was ASL fluent and a collegiate wrestler, it bothered some people to have a non-Deaf actor play a Deaf character…this after Matt approved of the original casting choice. Even though Matt identifies as Deaf, his identity as a wrestler was more important to him in who portrays him. The opposite was more important to the larger Deaf community.

by gzl5000 on Oct 23, 2011 2:24 PM EDT reply actions