Warrior – Review

Director Gavin O’Connor’s last film in Pride & Glory, was a wonderful film about brothers and their crumbling blood ties, that went largely unnoticed despite its superb cast. That was unfortunate, since it was a damn fine film. Warrior won’t go unseen, because it’s just too damn great for people not to talk about it. In a key early scene, Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is faced with a foreclosure on his home, for which the bank’s only option to him is to file for bankruptcy. Brendan denies this motion, mostly because he has too much pride, which is the glimmer of hope hardworking Middle Class Americans are losing. Warrior is undeniably American, but furthermore, tackles the seemingly dying American Spirit and forces it to come out of its sleeper hold.

With that driving force, Warrior is largely universal in its themes, despite the backdrop of the MMA/UFC world, that’s either loved by people or confusing to non-fans. O’Connor crafts a complex morality tale of what made America great and what will make America great again, through the deep drama of the Conlon Family. Each of the three main characters are on a path of redemption, with a riveting, emotional climax, that is of equal to Rocky II‘s ending. Brendan is a strong family man, facing foreclosure, even though between his wife and him, they work three jobs. Tommy (Tom Hardy) is a one-track minded raging bull, with an interesting military past, and a goal to protect a dead friend’s family. Brendan and Tommy are brothers, estranged, yet are commonly hurt by their alcoholic father (Nick Nolte), who’s trying to make amends. You can’t root against any of them, as all have your sympathies for their possible redemption, and that’s what makes Warrior so good.

All of the drama naturally will spill out into the ring, a SPARTA tournament with a winner-takes-all $5 million payout. With the complexity of the family drama front and center for most of the film, once the action gets going, it’s even more intense. It might be our generation’s Rocky, but it has ties to Bloodsport by the way of the rousing finish of O’Connor’s own Miracle. This makes Warrior a new age classic. But it’s a masterpiece because of its family unit, this blood ties that seem so irrecoverable that are force to collide, with resolution that only seems natural after-the-fact. The fights are brutal. Tom Hardy invokes Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, so Batman better watch out soon in The Dark Knight Rises. Edgerton is heartfelt and compassionate as Brendan, in a great turn by an emerging acting talent. Nolte is Nolte, which is heartrendingly perfect. It’s unpredictable in terms of the drama, the fights, and the resolution, and while it shares the success of a Rocky, of a The Fighter, Warrior stands on its own, perfect in every way. A new American classic right here, folks.

Rating:

Jon Peters

I love film. That is all.

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