It has some great fight scenes, but the rest is a manipulative and predictable washout

Rating: 4/10 (2 October 2011)

Despite what you may have heard or read, Warrior just may be one of the most melodramatic and manipulative films ever conceived. Yes, it is a sports movie and gets a pass from most people because of the genre's varied history. But that is not nearly a good enough excuse for the dreck that Gavin O'Connor has helped concoct with this film.
The Conlon family has been irreparably damaged after years of abuse at the hands of the former boxer and alcoholic patriarch Paddy (Nick Nolte). He is trying his hand at sobriety, but his estranged son Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is not ready to let Paddy get too close to his family. Other son Tommy (Tom Hardy) has just mysteriously returned from fighting in the Middle East, and recruits Paddy to help train him as an MMA fighter in order to compete in an upcoming tournament with the best fighters in the world. At the same time, Brendan, a school teacher, begins training to fight in the same tournament in order to keep a roof over his family's heads.
Should the trailer not have told you already, it becomes increasingly obvious throughout Warrior's often excruciating 140-minute running time where these two brothers are heading. The film makes no bones about it, and plays through almost every single underdog trope you can imagine and even a few you may have forgotten. The notion of being subtle was apparently lost on O'Connor, and I wonder if the original script played out just as annoying and silly as the film does. The comparisons to Rocky are more than fair, because the movie practically rips off entire segments right out of that legendary Oscar winner without shame.
But looking aside from the formulaic and absolutely asinine plotting structure, as well as the clear jumps in logic on the parts of almost every single cast member (specifically towards the end of the film), I think the film is most guilty of being too long, too self-indulgent and just plain boring. Warrior lacks the charisma and finesse needed to really make you forget the predictability of it all and actually care about the plight of these characters. It beats you over the head with moments dripping with pathos and sorrow, but never answers the question of why you should care. It merely goes through the motions, playing out lengthy scenes that could have easily been cut for pacing or reworked to give us a reason for watching the struggles of this collapsed family. It fails to connect on almost every level, and merely feels like a stretched out, half-baked drama that drags its heels getting to the tournament the film is building towards. Even then, it still takes its time getting to the fights.
I dig Hardy as an actor and look forward to seeing him truly break out, but he does not really put any effort into Tommy. He is brooding and conceited throughout, hinting at an inner pain that is waiting to be unleashed. But he never really gets the opportunity to showcase any of it. He spends most of the movie not saying a word, and merely looking at the camera or his cast mates with saddened and hollowed eyes. His sad eyes can only do so much, and his dialogue does absolutely nothing. It looks like he took the movie merely for the chance to bulk up and prep for The Dark Knight Rises.
Edgerton, who I also look forward to seeing break out, does a little better. He actually puts in the effort needed to be convincing, and even with the atrocious dialogue, comes off as genuine. He takes even the worst of moments in stride, and does almost the entirety of the heavy lifting in the film. Should the film have focused entirely on him and cut out the silly brother subplot, I think it could have worked a whole lot better.
Which brings me to Nolte, who gives what is likely his best performance in over a decade. While that may be true, I find it hard to find anything to really praise about it. He appears to be playing a fragmented archetype along the lines of Mickey Rourke's character in The Wrestler. Both characters are washed up shadows of their former selves, and not surprisingly, the lives of the actors playing them mirror the roles. But instead of giving the emotional breadth and genuine authenticity needed for this character, Nolte overacts the entire way through it. He hams it up for part of the film, and in others, completely destroys any semblance of attempting to give a great performance. Instead of letting it flourish, he seems more concerned with ensuring everyone know what kind of thespian he can be when he wants to be, and ends up becoming comically bad in some scenes. When there are people laughing at your character's most deadly serious scene, not because it is funny but because the delivery is stilted and amateur, it says a lot about the character and even more about your work.
But for all of its problems and everything it does so horrifically wrong, the fight scenes at the end of the film are simply magnificent. They are raw and realistic. You can feel every punch, gasp at every bone crunching submission, and practically smell the sweat coming off the mat. You can sense immediately that great pains were taken to ensure these scenes looked as authentic as possible. You become immersed in them, and feel like you are right there in the scene. Not surprisingly, I completely forgot how long I had been sitting watching Warrior because these scenes were just so breathlessly entertaining. But after wading through almost two hours of melodramatic pandering, I think they deserved to be.
4/10.
(An extended review also appeared on http://www.geekspeakmagazine.com).