Nicely performed sports drama with some excellent fight scenes

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2012)

Former U.S. Marine Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy) returns to the home of his estranged father Paddy (Nick Nolte), to find him sober and a Christian. Tommy left home with his now late mother after suffering years of abuse from the alcoholic Paddy, and now Tommy wants to fight in the upcoming mix-martial arts tournament called Sparta, and enlists his father to train him. Meanwhile, Tommy's brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a physics teacher who faces losing his family home to the bank. He also fights mixed martial arts, and when the school board finds out he has been fighting in some small back-alley tournaments, the school suspend him without pay. Brendan must convince his wife to let him fight in Sparta, and must face meeting his brother who hasn't talked to him in years, and his father, who he despises.
Warrior is another successful entry into the recent revisionist sports dramas such as The Wrestler (2008) and The Fighter (2010), that take David-and-Goliath themes and spin them with an almost docu-drama approach, while sticking to the traditions (some could say clichés) of the genre. Here, director Gavin O'Connor (who made the pretty crappy Pride and Glory (2008)) uses a hand-held camera and a muted blue colour palette to also explore family themes such as unconditional love, forgiveness and redemption. Familiar themes, I agree, but thanks to some confident directing and stellar acting from the three leads, Warrior is one of those rare sports films where you truly grow to root for the characters and get caught up in their plight. It also contains some great fight scenes that are surprisingly brutal given its 12A certificate.
Naturally, if either of the brothers want to win, they must face the prospect of fighting each other (and if you've seen the trailer, you'll know if that happens or not). Whereas the likes of Rocky (1976) had one clear hero to cheer on, here there's two, and I found myself caring equally about both. As Tommy, Hardy gives a performance of ferocious intensity. He becomes an unwitting national hero when one of his earlier fights goes viral on Youtube, and finds he has the backing of the Marine Corps. Tommy is angry, and this is reflecting in his fighting style. He storms into the ring, smashes his opponents with a few punches, and storms back out. It's no surprise Christopher Nolan wanted him to play Bane in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises. Brendan is calmer, and his trainer adopts a patient and tactical fighting style to suit Brendan's age. He even enters the ring to the sound of Beethoven. The two performances are equally good, but they are both overshadowed by Nolte, a man so consumed with regret and sadness that is drives him back to drink in one especially powerful scene. Nolte is great here, and I'm sure he'll be up for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar come March.
For those wanting action, there's plenty of it. When the Sparta tournament comes around, there's barely a moment spent outside the ring. They come thick and fast, and are impressively captured by O'Connor's camera. This may be the film's biggest problem, as the emotional core of the film's relies on the conflict between the three leads, especially between Tommy and Paddy. There is some sort of closure in one very good scene, but it is never shown again after that so the story fizzles out while we are consumed by the fighting. But what fighting it is, and when the action is this good, it's hard to be too concerned by the slight neglect of it's main theme. It under-performance at the box office, but I'm sure it will pick up the dedicated fan base that it deserves in the years to come.
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