Movie Review - Warrior

Warrior (2011)

Starring Joel Edgarton, Tom Hardy, Jennifer Morrison, and Nick Nolte

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Prior to watching Warrior, I knew absolutely nothing about the world of MMA -- Mixed Martial Arts -- a boxing/wrestling/karate-type sporting event in which two men enter a hexagonal ring and duke it out until one of them is either knocked out or admits defeat by tapping his hand on his opponent's body or the floor.  Perhaps wrongly, I felt that I would have no desire to witness this sporting event on film, but if I'm being honest, Warrior not only proved to be a better film than I imagined, but made me interested in a sport I heretofore couldn't have cared about in the slightest.

When Warrior came out, I chalked it up to being 2011's version of The Fighter...and it is.  That doesn't necessarily make it less worthy to be made into a film, but facts are facts and both films deal with a broken family that has surrounded themselves in the world of competitive fighting for decades.  They both feature a brother who's gone down the road of addiction -- in this film's case that role goes to Tom Hardy as Tommy Conlon -- and a brother who has things together -- here played by Joel Edgarton as Brendan Conlon.  Both films feature a parent who has pushed his kids hard and has been through tough times on their own although Warrior gives the parent -- Nick Nolte in an Oscar-nominated performance --  the added arc of being a recovering alcoholic himself.  When the two brothers who are both down on their luck in terms of money hear of a sixteen-man five million-dollar worldwide MMA battle, they both instantly want in and somehow (by the magic of the movies) they both succeed.  In the March Madness-like tournament bracket, the two brothers find themselves on opposite sides and is it really any surprise who the final two are going to be?

While Warrior is really a slightly watered-down version of The Fighter, it still manages to hold its own thanks to some solid performances from Edgarton and Hardy.  However, the film really shines thanks to some incredibly intense fight scenes.  Director Gavin O'Connor also directed the hockey flick Miracle and he has a keen eye in terms of building suspense when it comes to sports movies which often have a tendency to become sappy and overly "inspiring."  Here, we find ourselves right in the middle of the caged ring and it's a frightening place to be.

Yes, The Fighter is a better movie than Warrior, but not by much.  Both are worthy glimpses at the rough world of hand-to-hand sports combat and both are well worth your time.

The RyMickey Rating:  B