Warrior

Warrior

Directed by: Gavin O’Connor

Written by: Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis, and Cliff Dorfman

Plot:

Two estranged brothers (Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy) find themselves pitted against each other in a no-holds-barred Mixed Martial Arts Tournament, with a five million dollar purse. Complicating matters, one of the brothers is being trained by their remorseful, recovering alcoholic father (Nick Nolte), who's determined to win back the love of the sons.

Review:

This movie had the heart and everything else The Fighter wanted to be and more. As you can see I didn’t like The Fighter and thought it was overrated. I was a little nervous about Warrior since I felt like everything was given away in the trailer and even though we know going into the film that Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy are brothers that are fighting in the finals there is so much more to this film. Gavin O’Connor (Miracle) has done it again, giving us another sport flick to remember forever. 

The characters in this film were so well written and it helps that it had a great cast to play these characters. Edgerton plays the physic teacher and family man, who is forced to get back in the cage when the bank threatens to foreclose on his house. Hardy is the opposite who has a lot of anger and rage against his father from their past. You don’t just get one underdog, but you get two. In the end, you don’t know which brother you want to root for.

The first hour of the film Edgerton and Hardy have their own separate stories. They both are trying to get back into the fighting game and we learn little bits and pieces of information but nothing too much. When Edgerton and Hardy finally talk for the first time, they have an emotional conversation/argument which leaks more information about their past. This is one of many points that got me to tear up. I don’t tear up in many movies but this movie made me get teary-eyed more than just a few times. 

Nick Nolte by far had the best performance playing the father of these two underdog fighter. He is a broken-hearted old man trying to make up for the unspeakable and unforgivable things he did to his sons and wife over the years. His performance should not go unnoticed by the Academy and I would be surprised if he does not get a Best Supporting Actor nod.

Warrior is close to a perfect film. It is a gritty drama, an intense action/violence flick, and a feel good movie all wrapped up into one. Plus, it has a great training montage! It is a shame that this film has not gotten the support it deserves at the box-office. A movie with this much heart should not go unnoticed. 

Rating: 9.5/10


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