GRADE: A
Well I have now officially kicked off my 2011 movie marathon with a punch! (no pun intended? Joke.) Warrior is a movie I have been looking forward to since the first day I saw the trailer, with the words “‘fiercely moving!’ – Peter Travers” coming from one of my favorite professional critics. No, the film in itself isn’t original, and yes it does have its share of film snob upsetting clichés, but are those really flaws worth beating a film up over? Snobs say absolutely, I however, have a completely different take on the movie than they do.
From a young age Tommy Conlon was the best wrestler around town. Early off people were predicting him to win national championships and eventually join the ranks of the best in history. But in joining the Marines he chose a different path in life, which due to certain unspoken tragedies he has been haunted by since then, Tommy (Tom Hardy) has never been the same.
Tommy’s father, Paddy (Nick Nolte) was nothing more than a drunk, abusive father when he was a child. But for reasons we don’t yet know Tommy has returned to his home town to be trained by his father and compete in an upcoming mixed martial arts tournament called “SPARTA”. After beating one of the front-runners in less than three minutes at the gym, Tommy is looking to have a big shot at the title, as well as the 5 million dollar prize money,
Meanwhile, Tommy’s brother, Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) and his wife are in deep financial trouble, and the sound of losing their house is getting tragically closer, and closer. He might not have ver been the fighter his Tommy was, but Brendan was good enough to make side money in little local UFC fights, and when a hole opens up at SPARTA (a sixteen man tournament) Brendan wants his friend to pull some strings and get him in. He does.
Paddy desperately wants his two sons to make up for their past issues, and unable to forgive their father they find themselves also unable to forgive one another. The two brothers fight in the biggest tournament of them all, and Paddy watches, with the simple hope that one day they can all be a family again, and he can find forgiveness.
Warrior succeeds off of many different aspects, the incredible ensemble cast being one of them. Tom Hardy is undeniably fantastic, and proves to me and the rest of the world that he is an actor to be reckoned with. Young with a VERY long career ahead of him, I think. Joel Edgerton is also great, I cannot get over how real and genuine his performance felt, I really thought he was a dad with serious money problems. That’s good acting for you.
The real prize is with Nick Nolte, though. It is a real shame that this man is not going to get an Oscar nod for Best Supporting because from what I have seen he deserves it. The scene where he helplessly begs his stage son to forgive him is heartbreaking, and had me in tears. Not many actors can pull that off like he did.
Even with the tiresome clichés there is just something about Warrior that makes it memorable. I am not a fan of UFC and never will be, but this is powerful stuff we’re talking about. The characters are written with so much heart that the audience cannot help but feel for them. We know they are in pain and we care about what happens to them. That’s why in years to come I will still be watching Warrior.
Final Word – Maybe it isn’t a masterpiece, but for a sports movie, it’s darn close.
