SummaryAn ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MM...
SummaryAn ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MM...
Starts out so promisingly that it's a huge disappointment when it ultimately becomes way too predictable - and unbelievable. It's as if "Raging Bull" suddenly morphed into "Rocky."
Its incredibly easy to write this off as some sort of sports/MMA "Dude bro" movie but its so much more than that. To be short, its one of the best combat-based drama films since Rocky with a truly amazing performance by Nick Nolte.
It's a film about redemption, forgiveness, pride and family. It's also a film about a teacher who has to resort to MMA fighting because teachers don't make enough to pay their bills.
I love movies of all kinds regardless of their age. 2011 so far has been a very hit-and-miss year, luckily alongside Drive and The Tree of Life(though both won't appeal to all) Warrior is among my favourites of this year.
Warrior is a well made and directed movie, with lighting that consistently fits with the mood and cinematography that is skillful and intelligently used. The dialogue was thought-provoking and written with vigour and heart, the fight scenes are incredible feeling both authentic(you can smell the sweat and feel the tears) and harrowing and the story for me was absorbing and hit me hard emotionally.
The characters are fully credible too, and the wonderful performances help. Tom Hardy is outstanding in one of his best performances to date, and Joel Edgarton is every bit his equal, but Nick Nolte is a sheer delight and comes close to stealing the film on several occasions. The climax was very exciting, and while the film's end is rather inconclusive, everything else is so good you don't care so much.
In conclusion, fantastic film and one of the best of the year. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Though Warrior excels at the big stuff-fighting sequences and rousing crowds and victories that all but force audiences to stand up and cheer - the film is at its very best in the small moments, the little looks.
Warrior aspires to myth. It's Cain and Abel battling it out in the face of a decidedly ungodly father before humanity goes down for the count. Strong stuff.
O'Conner continues to exhibit a deft knack for melding interpersonal drama with
athletic competition in ways that, despite his tales' clichés, earn their
melodramatic manipulations through genuine empathy for characters' plights.
It's better than a vast majority of sports films because the sport itself is more impressive than any other. While I am biased, and therefore tempted to say the sport is "better", I realize such statements about unquantifiables is silly and hard to justify. I can say that mma is more impressive than any other sport for relatively obvious reasons. A fight is scarier and more demanding than hours of any team sport. The danger is greater. The sport itself transcends our cultural, temporal preferences in games...fighting is inherent to humanity unlike any other athletic text, along with maybe running. Great acting and a well crafted, if standard, plot. Well done emotional moments without the overt manipulation of "average" conceptual intelligence most films use. There are a number of reasons that this is one of the greatest sports films ever. If you like team games (baseball, basketball, patticake, etc.) over true tests of another person in a physical test (fighting and...well, that's it in sports) then tou may not agree. Most may share my opinion.
This is a sports centered drama film with themes covered including tournaments, martial arts and underdogs. From the start, the family members are depicted as very much being quite distant from one another, with one being clearly a lot more down and out than the other. With quite dour and solemn music playing in the background, its also clear that their both relatively tired (physically, mentally and quite possibly emotionally speaking) as well. There is a certain atmosphere present from this first initial scene, although it sets the tone as being quite bleak, understandably so but I suppose I should say that it isn't the best of films to see if your looking for a constantly wonderfully happy film, put it that way!.
The camerawork is a bit jerky at times - the scenes featuring said martial arts being practiced or during competitions/tournaments are quite frenetic, with many camera angles used. It has quite a gritty, urban feel to it. At times a split screen is used to show one of the brothers training, in the ring, while another is out running. The chronology of the film appears to be quite wide, with it quickly depicting many days or weeks worth of time, hence the pace is relatively quick.
Its fair to say that the plot isn't exactly greatly original - there are some cliches present, with it being a sports related drama film with a heavy emphasis on family and the toll that being a sportsperson can have on you but it is a fairly tense and watchable film regardless. There are clearly unanswered questions from relatively early on but, somewhat frustratingly, as a viewer we're not really made aware of the full background of the brothers and what may have entirely driven such a big wedge between them. Having said that, it did make me feel a bit intrigued and curious to see what we might learn as the plot developed. The characterisation is fairly good but I found myself feeling that it was perhaps a little over 'Hollywood-ised', in that it didn't come across as entirely realistic and believable. There seemed to be an air of exaggerated melodrama somehow, although I'm not sure I can entirely put my finger on it.
Cast wise, Joel Edgerton plays Brendan Conlon, while his brother Tommy is played by Tom Hardy and the father, Paddy Conlon, is played by Nick Nolte. They do certainly look the part of gritty, hard done by street fighters trying to get by but I felt I somehow didn't quite buy in to the full picture. Other cast members include Jennifer Morrison, as Tess Conlon and Frank Grillo, as Frank Campana. Nolte's performance was probably the most noteable for me overall.
I found myself confused by the plot and not able to keep track of precisely what was going on, during pivotal scenes. At times the plot pace is quite fast and slick, while at other times it seemed a little slow. I feel the script wasn't the best overall. There is definitely a depressing bleakness to it but in a way I suppose thats a good thing, as I imagine thats what the filmmakers were trying to convey. I also found myself noticing a role reversal element which was interesting for a while but I won't give any spoilers. The basic concept is nothing new, although in this day and age (politically/culturally/economically speaking) its maybe more relevant than ever, the whole 'people trying to make a name for themselves, to rise above their circumstances' etc. but with various scenes taking place in Las Vegas and there being aerial camera shots used, panning across the many Vegas casinos and other establishments at night, with their lights shining bright, there was a definite tacky-ness to it. There is something sadly profoundly depressing about aspects of this but its not as if it hasn't been done before, numerous times. Content wise, the film contains one or two brief sex references and very brief/partial nudity, plus obviously violence in terms of the martial arts tournaments. There is also strong language and a character is depicted as being an alcoholic, with heavy drink use depicted, although its not really glamorised as such.
No, I wouldn't particualrly recommend this film. There are plenty of other, similar films around - I just didn't think this one was especially memorable.
I love UFC so this movie had to score high for me. Raw, MMA, guy **** the **** fails. No suspense. No story. No tension. No neckhold. Its a Sunday afternoon movie about two brothers and a Dad who had a falling out years ago....About nothing.
stupid movie and an insult to knowledgable mma fans. A walk-in that just mauls resident fighters at an mma gym? Phucking ripping the doors off a tank and disappearing? What a load of sheeeet A highschool teachers with one of the squishiest guards in mma history makes it to the finals and defeats the undefeated Russian machine? This is just blatant flag waving crap!