“Warrior” Theatrical Poster
Warrior (2011) Review
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Producers: Gavin and Greg O’Connor
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn, Maximiliano Hernandez, Vanessa Martinez, Kurt Angle
Running Time: 140 minutes
By JJ Bona
Warrior is a fight movie that arrives with flawless logic at a climax which involves not one but three main bouts, and the coincidence that provides not one protagonist but two is forgiven. The screenplay makes use of these devices to merge the structure of a rags-to-riches sparring story similar to Rocky with the intense, sometimes sordid drama of a problematic family.
For the first hour there are scenes which establish two brothers separately, Brendan and Tommy Conlon, played by Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy respectively. Brendan teaches science at a high school, and is married with children. Tommy is a Marine back from serving in the Middle East. They were boxers or wrestlers at high school, trained by their dad, Paddy, Nick Nolte. Now, various circumstances have brought them both independently to the same conclusion. They need to fight to make money.
The online betting NZ has to offer is not an option for them!
Once this premise has been established, it is 100% sure that Brendan is going to meet Tommy in the ring for the championship fight. This accounts for the three final rounds, because each will have to advance through a semifinal.
What I found intriguing about this movie was that there isn’t a favourite. The audience understands and enjoys both of the characters, and so does the film itself. Gavin O’Connor, director and co-writer for the movie, arrives at the stand-off foreshadowed at the film’s start fair and square. Both of the fighters have motives, they have been estranged for a long time after an unhappy childhood incident, and, in many ways, the brothers loathe each other.
When their mom left their alcoholic dad, Tommy went with her to California, where she finally died. Brendan stayed with his father. When we meet Paddy, he is coming up to 1000 days of sobriety and embodies, in only the way Nolte can, the shaggy heroism of a man who is giving getting himself together one more shot.
Tommy has always blamed his dad for abandoning his mom, but things are more complicated than that. Now Tommy returns from the war, with a secret, and asks his dad to train him for the upcoming MMA championship, and neither father nor son knows Brendan is signing up as well. Brendan is facing foreclosure on his house, and winning the purse at a low-level amateur fight has worsened things by getting him fired from his job.
There are subplots to the movie, all enjoyable, and these include Paddy’s, Brendan’s wife’s, played by Jennifer Morrison, and his trainer’s, in a role played by Frank Grillo, and these are intercut with the action scenes. O’Connor may not be shy about exploiting the action, but he makes full use of the force of the characters of the film in order to render that action meaningful.
I liked the movie for a number of reasons, the main one being that, by the end of it, I didn’t want to see either fighter lose. This reaction brings an incredible complexity to the last showdown and I thought nothing could top it -but I was wrong. Highly recommended watching and a film that should get a good review from everyone.
