Review: Warrior

There is one boxing movie for me that reigns supreme and that is Rocky.  Every other boxing/fight film I encounter will undoubtedly be compared to Sylvester Stallone’s film, it is inevitable.  Thankfully, we’ve had some fight films over the last couple years, The Fighter and The Wrestler for example, that really do nothing to mimic Rocky and stand on their own as quality films.  Warrior is one of those films.  Its best moments really have nothing to do with MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighting and everything to do with a broken family in turmoil.

The film follows two brothers, one a marine (Tom Hardy) having returned home, the other a former fighter turned physics teacher (Joel Edgerton), as they both decide to train to try and make something of themselves in the MMA world.  Each one does it for different reasons and with very little knowledge of each other, but in doing so, they set themselves up for a confrontation of their past family troubles.  The marine, Tommy Conlon, decides to enlist his newly sober father to train him despite their very abusive past.  The father (Nick Nolte) is looking for reconciliation with his two sons but his past indiscretions cause them to deny him redemption.  Their struggle to exist as a family is the focus of the film.

The performances in Warrior are quite excellent.  Joel Edgerton does a great job but Nick Nolte and Tom Hardy are the standouts for me in this film.  Nolte in particular gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from him.  If I were in charge of handing out Academy Award nominations, I would definitely give one to him for this movie.  Every beat of the character is felt through him and even though he may have been a bastard father, you hope he gets the redemption he’s seeking.  One scene in the film has an exchange between Nolte and Hardy’s characters at a casino in which Hardy’s character is abrasively harsh to his father.  Regardless of whether or not what is said is deserved, you could see Nolte’s character breaking apart in his realization that the love of his son, something he desires very much, will never happen and you feel so bad for him.  It’s a heartbreaking scene and it makes the following scene between Hardy and Nolte even more poignant.  That section of the movie is easily my favorite part of the film.

Tom Hardy plays a character that is full of rage but keeps it on a slow simmer.  It’s not until he gets into the ring (or cage) that you really see the fury come out.  Hardy does an amazing job going from a calm and dispassionate person to being an animal unleashed.  When you see him in the ring with his rage billowing and his large muscles flexed you definitely get a sense of danger for his opponents, the man is a beast.  I’ve really liked Hardy in quite a few movies recently and he definitely does not disappoint here.  With his upcoming role in The Dark Knight Rises, I suspect Tom Hardy will be a household name very soon.

I was skeptical with Warrior at first but it really grew on me and has definitely become a movie that I would easily recommend to someone.  The best fight films are never really about the fighting and while you do get wrapped up in the fights in Warrior, it is more about the subtext.  The fight between the two brothers isn’t about the actual physical fight, it’s an emotional one.  It’s two brothers trying to deal with how they’ve split apart and whether or not they can rebuild.