Doesn't really do anything new but it does it right for the most part.

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2013)

After a few years of silence from the sports genre post-Million Dollar Baby, there's been a run of successful films that follow the typical formula (albiet of varying quality) with the popular The Wrestler, The Blind Side, The Fighter and Moneyball. Warrior belongs among them, and is one of the most successful with audiences, if not at the box office, but magazine critics and the people who saw it fell in love with it, and it currently resides in a comfortable position in IMDb's top 250 films. Piling on that formula, it features dual comeback stories happening simultaneously, bonded by blood that will later inevitably collide.
The stakes are set high, one fighting for a home for his family and the other fighting for supporting a widow of a fallen war comrade, and the promise of brother vs. brother is a compelling idea, given that only one shall possibly win, if not a particularly special idea. Unfortunately, it stays far too close to formula and clichÃ©s, and within the formula hints only more formula and clichÃ©s in the backstory, where the wounds run deep. Fortunately, it's delivered with a sincerity which avoids cheese or cringe for the most part. It does focus on the heart rather than the cheap punch and effectively dodges sentiment, if not obligation, as the predictable beat by predictable beat severely blunts the impact.
It has some rather commendable attributes. Particularly as the film follows a very well developed character in Brendan Conlon, played admirably by Joel Edgerton, a man who you truly can believe to clip into the role of passionate teacher and caring father and then a tactful and persistent fighter. Nick Nolte gives a great and worthy performance as Brendan and Tommy's father, Paddy, truly deserving of his Oscar nomination. We don't know what he did but we feel an urge for his true redemption. A particularly heartbreaking scene is where he sees his granddaughters for the first time in 3 years but is barely acknowledged. Unfortunately, Tom Hardy's character, Tommy, while established immediately as a focus is thrown to the wayside, and becomes a one-note character where his inner workings are assumed rather than hinted. A talent neglected by the writing.
While Warrior may not be particularly special and amounts to things we've all seen before, it's certainly done the right way throughout, hitting all the essential key points nicely if not boldly. It is nice to see mainstream films today with the gritty grain of 1970s crime era cinematography rather than the polish of other blockbusters. However, overall, it is one of those typical films of male emotion expressed through fists which is never as cathartic as it wants to be as it lacks all tension and thoughtfulness to tap into that universal feeling. It relies on building a network of characters to witness the events to be excited about them to create these feelings for the audience.
It's an idea I've never truly connected to and have always felt that it's rarely been fully fleshed out to be worthy. After nearly two and a half hours it finally arrives at its selling point - brother vs brother in the final moments. It's been too long of a journey to justify the time spent exploring this dynamic (particularly after an expositional reunion that just confused matters rather than explained them) but the final moments are incredibly powerful and it rightfully ends on its highest note and not a moment later as the brothers embrace after the final fight regardless of who wins. It's a really good film though I'm not sure why its rated so highly. Though maybe that's what competence deserves nowadays.
7/10