Review: Warrior
(Originally reviewed in 2012)
I heard so many good things about Warrior but I never saw it in the cinema, I don’t know why it just didn’t seem like a go out and see film.
I fully regret that now because this film is absolutely fantastic, definitely one of the best of 2011 and would’ve easily made my top 10. Hell it would’ve made my top 5.
Warrior, at its heart, is a very human and emotional story, two estranged brothers and their teetotal father come together again in the midst of a world-wide MMA fighting tournament. But as simple as the story may seem we’re not looking for a complex narrative, everything that makes this film great is the acting and the brilliant way the film is put together.
On the acting front everyone is great, from Frank the trainer and Principal Zito, to Brendan’s wife Tess and even the commentators, there is no bad acting here. But at the head of the pack is a trifecta of great actors, Joel Edgerton makes Brendan a likeable family man, he’s in a lot of financial trouble and risks losing his house. He reluctantly turns back to fighting, something he turned his back on a long time ago and slowly but surely he proves himself to be a capable fighter.
Tom Hardy is the more mysterious Tommy, the runaway kid who reappears out of nowhere. We don’t get to understand why Tommy has returned or why he’s fighting, at least not straight away, his back-story is revealed piece by piece, he abandoned his family years ago, he’s a soldier, he’s a war hero and he’s a criminal. The more we learn about Tommy, the more we learn about the Conlon family in general.
And finally Nick Nolte puts in a truly brilliant performance as Paddy, the recovering alcoholic father, he’s has 1000 days sober and wants to reconnect with his sons and his granddaughters and he sees this tournament as a way to do so. Paddy is one of the highlights of the film because he’s so full of regret that he can’t see that Tommy is only using him to train, he doesn’t want him as a father anymore and when he finally does realise this he falls back into depravity. His ‘Stop This Ship’ scene is heartbreaking.
What’s really good about the film is that we don’t fully learn what happened between Tommy, Brendan and Paddy, we know that it was a difficult childhood but we don’t get any specifics and that means we can fill in the blanks ourselves and because we don’t really know why Brendan and Tommy hate their father it’s much easier to believe they can forgive him.
Another great point in the movies favour was the sheer contrast between Brendan and Tommy, Brendan is a family man with a steady job, Tommy has no family or job. When Brendan trains he trains with the best in a gym with a great trainer, when Tommy trains he’s using raw, visceral means, outside in the tyre-yard with his father. When they fight, Tommy uses pure strength then runs away when he wins, not talking to anyone, Brendan uses endurance to stay in as long as possible. Hell even in the final fight Tommy is wearing black and Brendan is in white. The differences between the two brothers keep telling us that these men have drifted apart over the years.
On the directing front Gary O’Connor does a great job, he makes this film seem almost like a documentary, like we’re watching this family from the sidelines, it makes the film all the more real. He also makes the fight scenes seem brutal and vicious, you could almost believe these were real fights they’re so authentic. There’s one moment where Brendan is fighting Koba (Played by real-life wrestler Kurt Angle) and his face goes deep red and his veins popped up against his tight neck. It was a hard moment to watch but it gave the film a level of fighting accuracy that you don’t see often.
Finally, the soundtrack to the film is stunning, from the rousing orchestral music during the fight scenes to the tribal drums just before the final fight between Tommy and Brendan. Even using Ode To Joy to great effect, every time the score was used it was used to great effect. The last few minutes of this film when ‘About Today’ by The National started playing just made this film for me, emotions were high and you watched a fight you wanted no-one to lose. I’ll admit I almost cried and that never happens, at least not that often.
This film is amazing, the acting is fantastic, the directing was brilliant and the soundtrack is superb. It may be a movie more for your heart than your head but man does it makes your heart go through so much.
9.5/10