Cain and Able meet Rocky

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2011)

WEEKLY MOVIE REVIEW : WARRIOR
ONE LINE REVIEW : Cain and Able meet Rocky
RATING : See it in theaters. (rating system: "see it in theaters", "wait for the instant download", "don't waste your time")
SPOILER FREE
Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) is a former marine who has returned home to ask his father Paddy (Nick Nolte) to help train him for the upcoming Spartan Mixed-Martial-Artist fighting match. It's a single elimination brawl between 16 fighters.
Meanwhile, Tommy's estranged brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is facing bankruptcy and foreclosure. And to make matters worse, he is fired from his teaching job for moonlighting as a competitive fighter. Brendan enters into the Spartan competition despite his wife's opposition.
But there is friction in the Colonder family. Paddy was a lousy father and a drunk which forced Tommy to leave home with his mother. The mother died when Tommy was just 16, so he is only talking to his father so that he can get the training he used to get from him as a kid. Meanwhile, Brendan has disavowed his father and will not talk to him.
The characters are all in play... And we're off.
I really enjoyed this film. If you're a UCF fan you will enjoy it. However, the fight scenes leave a bit to be desired. There are frequent cutaways and people walking through the shots. No doubt this is due to the fact that the actors did not do a lot of the fighting . Compare this to "Rocky" where Sylvester Stallone and his actors were actually boxing in his movie.
But it's not all blood and punches. The pain in the hearts of the two brothers is evident in fine performances by Hardy and Edgerton. Nick Nolte as the recovering alcoholic father is believable and tortured. I was happy to see Jennifer Morrison ("House") as the wife in a more complicated role than we've seen in the past (although most of her scenes were underlit).
I did walk away with one nagging question ... Who is the Warrior in this film?
So, for great fight Scenes intercut with some sightly meaty relationships, I recommend you "see it in the theater."