Warrior is a weird mix of a movie. On one side, it’s a ridiculously unbelievable, cliche and corny premise while on the other hand, it’s a well-told and highly emotional story delivered by incredibly powerful performances. It mixes family values with mixed marital arts and a tale of a war hero. It brings two amateurs up against the world’s mightiest in a Street Fighter-style tournament paralleling David and Goliath. It is also trying to be mainstream while pandering to the academy voting crowd. So what is Warrior? It’s a great movie if you forget how bad it is.
Tommy (Tom Hardy) comes straight off the streets and joins a gym. He volunteers to spar with one of the best MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighters who is training for Sparta, a winner take all tournament. Tommy lays him out. Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a high-school physics teacher by day, parking lot fighter by night. His house is up for foreclosure and he needs the money to pay the bills. He retired from UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) a while ago and his wife doesn’t even know he’s fighting again. Don’t consider this a spoiler but a testament to how predictable this movie is: they both end up in the tournament and oh, they’re also brothers.
"It was in the parking lot *next* to a strip club"
The movie follows them both as they train and fight their way to the big international tournament that two no-names like them should never be apart of. If you didn’t know they were brothers from the way they’re marketing this film, you’ll quickly figure it out in the beginning of the movie. Nick Nolte plays their smokey-voiced father Paddy Conlon who was a former boxer himself and trained his kids at a young age to be punching machines. He turned to alcohol and both of his sons turned their backs on him. Even though I hated his character, Nolte gives an award-deserving performance that will either bring tears to your eyes or shivers down your spine.
Every fighter movie needs a door stoop scene
This is a terrific sports movie that has exhilarating escalation in its matches. The fight choreography is superb and feels so genuine. From the first fight to the last, you’ll be feeling the pain of every body slam, uppercut and submission hold. The camera is a bit shaky at times as it takes you into the cage, but the fight sequences are not glazed over like other recent fighting films. Warrior does have plenty subplots and side stories, but the fighting is the key feature. Both Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy are ripped and do an amazing job selling the authenticity of the brawls.
Spoiler Alert? The studio released this image, not me...Warrior is extremely predictable anyway
The estranged brother story is an extremely far fetch and if you didn’t think that was enough, they also throw in this war hero story which caught me off guard. They tease you with shots of Iraq and a mystery of a random video clip that one soldier recorded. You figure out the connection between the military and the brothers as it all culminates in the end for a very exaggerated climax. They played every sentimental card you can think of: family, military service, even country pride. This is the kind of script that throws the kitchen sink in trying to please every single demographic and background. Somehow, it all worked and I really enjoyed the film a lot. You’ll have to hold yourself back from cheering and clapping during the movie but why hold back? Let yourself get engulfed in the emotion and fist pump to the warriors! I did.
Tags: Joel Edgerton, MMA, Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, Warrior
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
