The untold tale of love and bravery

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2012)

The "Warrior" is justified to its fullest extent by the story which revolves around 2 brother and their father all spitted away yet woven together by the web of love. It is a story about two brothers who split ways in their teens because of their father's alcoholism. Younger brother Tommy departed with mom but elder brother Brandan decided to stay back for her girl-friend. This creates a rift between the brothers which resurfaces and dissolves when they clash against each other in arena of death and life.
The movie opens with Tommy, the younger brother, an ex-marine returning to Pittsburgh, his home town to train for "Sparta" MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) under his father whom he treats as mere trainer and nothing more. On the other hand Brandan, an ex UFC fighter takes up a job as physics teacher and lives with his family close to yet far away from his father. Because of daughter's illness and other loans Brandan takes up fighting once again to meet the ends. However when the fight of Mr C (Brandan) gets public in the school he gets suspended for breaking disciplinary rules. Brandan left with no other option decides to take up fighting once again his profession to save his family and house(which was on verge of being taken away by bank) and trains under his friend Frank.
Tommy catches a media attention when the video of knocking down champion "mad dog" in less than a minute, goes viral. On the other side Brandan gets better trough his training regime and when Frank's leading fighter gets injured days before the tournament, he convinces Frank to fight the game of death for five million dollars. In the tournament Brandan catches the glimpse of younger brother which takes him back a little. The story gets more gripping when their father Paddy Conlon in-spite of his desperate attempts to seek forgiveness of his sons is turned deaf ears by both the brothers.
As the action begins in "Sparta" we see the two brothers in a total contrasting fighting techniques. Tommy was a destruct knocking down his opponents with hefty blows and leaving the arena in haste. Brandan was "never give up" character who patiently struggled and waited for his opponent to make the mistake and catch them on the wrong foot and finally getting them tapped out. Meanwhile Tommy's heroics of ripping apart a tank door and saving fellow marine comrades during war gains him unprecedented support from soldiers and audience.
Each of the brothers defeat their heavy?? oppositions to make road towards the final clash. In the final battle in-spite of early pounding from Tommy, Brandan manages to survive and in the opportune moment gets grip over his brother. However Tommy was also amongst the ones who would give up and his ligament snaps accidentally. Brandan realizes this and seeks? his brother to give up as he doesn't want to hurt his brother any more. The support from fellow soldiers make Tommy fight in-spite of the excruciating pain of his dislocated hand.Brandan's word "you don't need to do this" definitely stirs the audience's emotions.
The last scene of tommy crying over Brandan's shoulders and their father smiling at the reconciliation was the undoubtedly the best scene of the movie. The strong story line with some good action sequences makes this movie amongst the best sports movies, definitely in the league of Rockies and Cinderella Man.