Christian Bale is just a working class guy working in a steel mill. Now, Pittsburgh has only had one working steel mill in like the past 20 years. Nevertheless, this is where he is supposed to work. Even though he was supposed to have been born and raised in North Braddock, just outside of Pittsburgh, he has no Pittsburgh accent whatsoever. He halfheartedly tries to put a "yunz" in there when he is talking to someone in New Jersey, but it doesn't flow off the tongue. I can't really blame him - he's British, so local dialects are going to be particularly hard for him.
Casey Affleck can do a regional dialect. Unfortunately, that dialect is Boston and pretty much only Boston. he plays the younger brother who always does stupid stuff and needs Christian to bail him out. This means, necessarily, that he has to get into a few bad situations that he can't get himself out of. He's also supposed to be a bare-knuckle fighter, and he actually does a pretty good job with that. He keeps his hands up to protect his face well and doesn't expose himself too much when going on the attack
Zoe Saldana is the girlfreind who is confused by things that go on, and she tries to do the right thing, but it always seems to be the right thing for her more than anyone else. She exists here because there is supposed to be a love interest in the movie, and they have to have someone, so why not make her eye candy as well?
Willem Dafoe plays the cranky local loan shark who has a heart of gold and connections of evil. He runs the local bar and has his less legal stuff happening in the back office. Casey winds up getting into trouble with him, and Christian works it out. After all, Christian's a good kid, and Willem has that heart of gold.
Woody Harrelson is supposed to be the intimidating redneck from Jersey. First - I really wonder how many proper rednecks live in Jersey. Second - they achieve the intimidation factor by making him seem like he's a bit high all the time. Oh, and they also try not to get him in full frame most of the time. That way, there is kind of the sense that he's too big to fit on the screen all at once. I can't say he does a bad job, but it just doesn't seem like he was the right fit for the role.
The story is rehashed tripe
The acting is generally good
The direction is okay, but the first 40 minutes of movie could have not happened
Dialog is bland
Editing is similarly unremarkable
2.0/5