Warrior

Rating: 4/5

don't like sports movies. I just don't get engaged by them, probably because they're 95% "true stories" and I know how it's gonna end. Boxing movies are especially guilty of this, because they either rip off Rocky or Raging Bull. It's always the same too: lower-class tough guy/family man meets the girl of his dreams and/or needs money for his family. Cue a training montage with an unconventional mentor and a touching scene of familial reconciliation, all while a big fight is coming up. Put these together with an overrated director and you get stuff like The Fighter or Cinderella Man. God I'm glad for Warrior.

Tommy (Tom Hardy) just got back from Iraq and refuses to talk about what happened there. He also decides to shack up with his dad (Nick Nolte), after over fifteen years of no contact. Tommy needs money and is a powerful martial artist, so he enters Sparta, a huge MMA tournament with a five million dollar prize. Meanwhile, Tommy's older brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a physics teacher with a family and a looming foreclosure on his house. Out of options, Brendan enters Sparta, ignorant of Tommy's involvement.

Warrior does something that I've never seen in a sports film. It makes the audience want both Tommy and Brendan to be the victor in the big final fight. Warrior gives both protagonists real motivations, feelings, and personalities, making them likable and empathetic. The movie is mostly about Brendan and Tommy's relationship, and that is portrayed very, very well, partly because of a characteristic not seen in most movies these days: subtlety. Instead of having long monologues about Nick Nolte's bad parenting, we are shown that through facial expressions, mis-en-scene, and genuinely great acting.

My main problem with last year's big sports movie, The Fighter, was that there wasn't anything extraordinary about it except Christian Bale's performance. The story was standard, the script was cliche, and overall it was just eh. I just didn't connect emotionally with the film because like I said earlier, it was a true story and I knew the end. Warrior definitely relies on some cliche, but does it so well that it's very effective.

I liked Warrior. I didn't love it, I didn't cry at the end, but I liked it. The performances are great, it's a well written and directed story, and it isn't predictable. Warrior is a good story of two brothers, with MMA as a centerpiece. The whole thing just feels genuine in it's emotion and atmosphere. Warrior isn't Oscar bait, and a lot of people might not like it, but I recommend it.