Warrior - Review

No film bookended by two The National songs could be bad, right? Right.

Warrior has a plot that is at once ingenious and absurd - two brothers with serious emotional baggage end up competing against each other for the top title in the world's biggest winner-take-all Mixed Marshall Arts championship. It's credit to director Gavin O'Connor then, who does not shy away from the fairy tale incredulity of his story, but rather films it with such grit and conviction that the road to the unlikely climax it is not only gripping, but contextually convincing.


It helps that he has three skilled and hungry actors who turn in three staggering performances. From the gritty, heavy family drama to the intense, epic fight scenes (Mixed Marshall Arts = kickboxing + wrestling + anything goes = awesome), they blend together something that shouldn't work, but sucks you in and then soars to an intense, potent climax that is hard to forget.  

Nick Nolte is phenomenal as an abusive, drunk, nightmare of a father turned broken, feeble man trying to make amends. He gives a slow, unshowy performance that is so rawly vulnerable and filled with inescapable regret that it often truly hurts to watch. A searing verbal lashing from Tom Hardy's Tommy leads to Nolte's explosive, knockout scene that pushes him right into the Best Supporting Actor race.


It's impossible to pick a winner between Tom Hardy's Tommy & Joel Edgerton's Brendan, both difficult, intriguing characters with a vivid, traumatic past. Edgerton brings a strikingly hard edge to his sensible and adored father / husband / teacher, while Tom Hardy is all blazing intensity with his heart on his sleeve as deeply angry, deeply bruised Tommy.



A carefully executed, original film with a soaring climax. It sucks you in and knocks you out.
And it all ends beautifully with The National.

Warrior - Trailer

The trailer feels a bit cheesy, and the film too close on the heels of last year's brothers / boxing drama The Fighter, but Warrior is getting glowing reviews wherever it goes - Variety's Jeff Sneider calls it a Best Picture contender, while Nick Nolte's performance is being hailed as the most heart breaking of his career. 

Starring Animal Kingdom's broody Joel Edgerton & Bronson / Inception's super cool Tom Hardy (soon to be Bane in The Dark Knight Rises) as estranged brothers from a broken home taking on the world of Mixed Martial Arts Fighting for the cash that goes with the title prize. Tommy (Hardy) is an angry, ex-marine blazing his way to the finals. Brendon is his older, more sensible, brother who takes to the ring to supplement his teacher's salary and provide for his family. When Brendon becomes an unexpected, underdog favourite, the brothers end up facing off against each other, and their damaged past. Nick Nolte is their dad, a washed-up alcoholic and ex-fighter that Tommy enlists as his coach. Hardy and Edgerton are said to be electric, but Nolte steals the show.