Intense and inspirational - a real winner of a sports drama

Rating: 9/10 (8 February 2015)

As I've probably mentioned before in the handful of reviews I've done for sports movies, I'm not the biggest fan of sports or sports movies in general. Still, I know a good film when I see one and WARRIOR is more than that: it's excellent. Befitting a film that deals with MMA and despite the PG-13 rating, it doesn't pull its punches physically or emotionally. This is probably one of the most intense movies I've seen from a visceral standpoint and on an emotional level. Without getting into too many specifics, the story is about two brothers who have been separated and on the outs for quite a long time. Due to personal circumstances, they both (inadvertently) enter the same MMA tournament and deal with relationship issues that have gone long unaddressed. The two leads, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, both do an awesome job with the dramatic material while also bringing a believable physicality to their fight scenes. Although they are filmed and edited in a rather chaotic style, I thought that it worked here even if it came with the slight loss of comprehensibility. For the most part, however, you get to see all of the punches, throws and takedowns from a variety of perspectives. Also lending some dramatic heft to the film was veteran actor Nick Nolte, who plays the brothers' father, also on bad terms with his sons for a variety of reasons. He was as fleshed out as were the two siblings and even gets a couple moments that seemed Oscar-worthy. In general, this wasn't some mindless story with a bunch of fight scenes strung together. Every fight had a purpose for the overall story, and there was plenty of back story for each main character to get you fully invested. So much so, that by the time the end comes around you don't know who to root for because they both have such strong motivations. It's like the Sophie's Choice of fight films. My only complaint, which is minor at best, is that once it does come around to the conclusion it lays on the melodrama a bit thick, and the final moment in the ring which was backed by an acoustic song had me rolling my eyes a little bit. Still, this was a powerful drama with incredibly brutal fight scenes that actually meant something. Even if you don't normally go for sports movies, this is one of the few that transcends that genre's limitations and manages to be inspirational without pandering. Highly recommended.