Breaking through typical MMA fight movies; the real fight is outside the cage

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2014)

Gavin O'Connor, the director of Warrior, does a fabulous job of making a long movie feel short by grabbing the audience in early scenes while still building suspense along the story line. While other movies follow the cliché 'sport/fight movie' protocol, Warrior puts its own twist on the fighting movie stereotype with extremely powerful acting and revelations of deep inner truths and demons within the characters. Most, if not all, sports films have the same goal; to win. Warrior is no different, it is the quest for a MMA title, but that goal almost comes second hand to other such goals in the movie.
Brothers Tom and Brendan Conlon (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton) and their father, Paddy (Nick Nolte) are the main characters in this movie; where these three men act in a way that make it seem nothing less than real footage of a true event. In the movie, these men have much deeper problems than what they aspire to do in the cage. Tommy Conlon, a taciturn marine, came home to Philadelphia wanting to train and fight for a MMA tournament called Sparta. He faces the struggle to put aside his coldness and abandonment towards his father so his father can train him for the tournament. His acting couldn't have done a better job portraying the anger and subtle brokenness he feels from his childhood. The two brother's father is coming up on one thousand days sober. Across Philly, Brenden Conlon is facing life problems of similar importance. Fighting in the parking lots of strip clubs, Brenden is in desperate need of money to save his home from foreclosure, which would ultimately put him, his wife, and his daughter in an extremely unfortunate position. Being suspended from his mediocre teaching job for fighting, he pursues the victory in the Sparta tournament as the ultimate underdog.
At this point in the movie, one would have to be not watching the movie to realize that Tommy and Brenden would be fighting in the final together. But the fighting aspect of this movie is much more than just fighting. It is so much more than who gets the five million prize at the end of the tournament. It's about facing demons from their childhood; redeeming and reconciling relationships. Most typical fight movies establish a good guy/ bad guy fight. Where the good guy, usually the underdog, needs to overcome and win the fight over the bad guy. Warrior is an exception from this. The two brothers are both, ultimately well rounded characters, so either outcome will most likely be a satisfying outcome. Warrior establishes an outcome where both brothers are winners, in one way or another.