Warrior

Welcome to another episode Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Warrior.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor.

Written by Gavin O'Connor, Anthony Tambakis & Cliff Dorfman.

Screen Story by Gavin O'Connor & Cliff Dorfman.

Review #138

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense mixed martial arts fighting, some language and thematic material.

Runtime: 140 min

Cast

Joel Edgerton ... Brendan Conlon

Tom Hardy ... Tommy Conlon

Nick Nolte ... Paddy Conlon

Jennifer Morrison ... Tess Conlon

Frank Grillo ... Frank Campana

Kevin Dunn ... Principal Zito

Maximiliano Hernández ... Colt Boyd

Bryan Callen ... Himself

Josh Rosenthal ... Referee Josh Rosenthal

Kurt Angle ... Koba

Erik Apple ... Pete 'Mad Dog' Grimes

Anthony Johnson ... Orlando 'Midnight' Le

Nathan Marquardt ... Karl Kruller

Roan Carneiro ... Marco Santos

Daniel Stevens ... Francisco Barbosa


Warrior has been a heavily promoted film. It had to be due to it's small stature. The trailers and TV spots have painted this film as The Fighter in the MMA world instead of boxing. It's easy to feel that way but Warrior is different in several ways.

Some better and some not.


Plot


The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament -- a path that puts the fighter on a collision corner with his older brother.

The parts that don't work for this movie is the plot. It's too generic and overdone. The strife between the brothers and father is nothing new to the genre. To make matters worse it's just glossed over as opposed to being fleshed out and properly explained. This drags the film down in several aspects. In pacing, structure and more importantly entertainment. There are only 2 things that make this film watchable. Here's the good.

Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy.

These 2 are the life and soul of Warrior. Hardy in particular turns in a terrific performance. It's not going to get any award buzz but it was still strong. His back story was interesting enough and the film does a pretty good job shrouding the reasons behind his gruff and deliberate demeanor. He was seriously jacked for this role. I can't wait to see how he tackles Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

Then the film takes that momentum and kills it by not following through on the mystery. The explanation though believable was weak and poorly presented. I keep coming back to this because the story flaws hinder Warrior from being superior to The Fighter and trust me when I say the potential was there. Having said that the performances of the Edgerton and Hardy drive this film forward to a very satisfying conclusion.

The final fight between the brothers left me wondering how in the world are they going to end this movie. Who was going to win the tournament. Both men had equally important and honorable reasons to win the money but only 1 man could walk away from the cage victorious. Then out of nowhere the fight turns into a family therapy session and it was BRILLIANT! I won't say any more about it except that it was the only way this film and fight could have ended.

It also saved this movie from getting a lower score.


Warrior probably should get your $$$. I just wish it hadn't sacrificed so much depth within the story. A little more punch (no pun intended) and we would have been talking about something special.

On the 5 star scale. Warrior gets 3 stars with a split. "Go See It/Netflix It" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Drive.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"