Warrior (2011)

I wonder if Beethoven could ever have imagined his “Ode to Joy” could have been the underscore for a visceral drama that sees men knock seven bells out of each other? Traumatised by his wartime experience, “Tommy” (Tom Hardy) looks up his alcoholic father “Paddy” (Nick Nolte) to see if he will help him train for the ultimate MMA prize fight. This isn’t a relationship made in heaven, indeed it is soon apparent that his childhood was always subject to the mood swings of a father permanently sozzled. Dad, now, has not had a drink for over 1,000 days and so maybe there is hope of some sort of reconciliation? Meantime, his brother “Brendan” (Joel Edgerton) is struggling to make ends meet as a school teacher and he too is thinking of rejuvenating his own MMA career. He’s been doing some car-park stuff to earn extra cash, but that hasn’t impressed “Tess” (Jennifer Morrison) who has the kids to bring up and doesn’t want an husband battered and bruised. Now the family melodrama didn’t do much for me: the brothers have even more baggage with each other than with their dad and those dysfunctional relationships are nothing new, but along the way they do give Nolte a chance to deliver his best role since “Prince of Tides” in 1992. The action photography is excellent and both Edgerton and Hardy sink their teeth into the roles providing us with quite a gritty and authentic look at how tough it is to fight whilst you have a crowd baying for blood yards away. It’s powerfully scored and tautly concluded to leave you feeling you’ve been in that cage a little, too, and is way more than just a sport-themed sweat-fest.

Warrior was the most exciting, detailed and emotional movie I saw. It had action, drama & descent cast. It dwelve into the backstory for each character: Brendan resented his father for being an abusive alcoholic, and made a life for himself and his family. He cares for his family too much to let them lose their home, and so he goes back to MMA sport to win a few money. But circumstances had gave Brendan the oppertunity to win big at the Sparta tournament. Once there, mhe comes face to face with his brother. Tommy is another side of the coin; he has so much anger in him; he blames his father for the past and blames his brother for abandoning him and their dying mother. But he made a new family in the Marine Corp, for which he enlisted, particuraly one marine who called brother, who was killed in a friendly fire. Tommy then desserted his regiment and decided to enter the Sparta tournament to win a prize money as a promise to his friend's family (this shows that he does have a kinder side, even for a biref moment). He turns to his father to train him, but still resenting him for the past. But near the end, he sees his father relapsed and drunk (as drunk as he was in the past) and seeing how sad it all looks, Tommy realised he wasted all that anger over a broken down drunk and (may implied) forgave him (which was a sweet moment). Paddy is the father to Brendan and Tommy, but he lost them both (and his wife) when he was an abusive alcoholic. He regretted his actions and went sober. He tries yet fails to reconcile with both sons for the past. While Brendan had fogiven him (but don't trust him), Tommy still held that anger. Eventually, Paddy became heartbroken that Tommy will never forgive him and so he relapsed and got drunk. This inadvertantly changed Tommy's perspective his of father. In the end, Paddy looked on with pride as his sons reconciled. I really liked the ending of the film, where the two brothers, Tommy and Brendan, went face-to-face. And right near the end, it was really emotional, when the brothers finally let go of the past. This film was really amazing. It was just terrific!

The story isn't particularly new, but the writing and the actors do a REALLY convincing job of making you believe in the characters struggles. Don't expect the movie to deliver on the many promises it makes though, they cut the last 10 minutes of film too early. That's my biggest gripe with it and why I wouldn't give this a higher rating.

Edgerton, Morrison and Hardy are good but Nolte is just spectacular. Other than that, the movie is really fun but the story is nothing new and the ending is not even working.