Best Action movie of 2011, and something to be seen again and again

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2011)

Warrior is Gavin O' Connor's best movie to date, and certainly one of the best action movies of all times. Beyond the top-notch, and quite realistic action sequences, the movie--as the t-shirt of Brendan Conlon's trainer Frank shows--has the 'soul of a lion'. The backdrop of an MMA championship remains so, in the backdrop, with the key element of drama remaining the tension and struggles of a broken family, consisting of a ex-alcoholic war-veteran father, an elder son who teaches school Physics, and the younger son who suffers from PTSD from the war in Iraq.
Forgiveness comes hard when the wounds are too deep, when the man to forgive was responsible for the premature and miserable death of your mother, and when the elder brother stood you up when you tried to run away from the abusive father. Tommy Conlon finds refuge in the marine corps, only to see his best buddy die from friendly fire. He goes AWOL, takes his mother's name, and surfaces back in the States. His father Paddy is the best trainer he's had, the main responsible for making him a child prodigy in wrestling, and despite the loathing, he knows that's the way to go if he's to get the money to support his dead buddy's family.
Brendan Conlon the elder brother has always resented his father's preference for his younger brother, the better fighter. Now a schoolteacher, with a delayed and oppressive loan, he knows the three jobs between his wife and him are not sufficient to retain their house, and tries his hand at MMA, harking back to his past stint at the UFC, where his performance was nothing to write home about. He knows the prize money is the way out of a potential bankruptcy, and knows the choices are difficult, but limited.
Paddy Conlon the war veteran has been off the bottle for a thousand days and seeks redemption in the church, and Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Try as he might to get closer to either son, the two sons have only thing in common as Tommy puts it sometime late in the movie--they both have absolutely no use for their ex-alcoholic wife-beating father. He tries nevertheless, taking abuse and ridicule in his stride, since he knows forgiveness is the only way out of his past sins. Nick Nolte's role is understated and so realistic it defies comprehension. For that matter, both the protagonists are so good I kept expecting to see either one of them being actual MMA fighters (having not recalled either of their earlier movies). The fights between them are realistic, and hold your attention without being tacky.
The climax is sure-fire tear-jerker with the two brothers fighting out each other, but more than that their own demons. One gets to see that blood is indeed thicker than water, but without the message being drilled into place.
Worth seeing again and again. 10/10.