Worth seeing but prepare for disappointment.

Rating: Null/10 (16 September 2011)

There were some very strong and emotional moments and again, it makes you look at yourself and your personal and family relationships. This is a very powerful movie in more ways than one. You'd think it's all about MMA and fighting and all that but that's just a subplot. There will be those similarities to The Fighter and they're justified. The difference is you already know exactly how Fighter is gonna end. With Warrior, the first 2 acts of the movie are perfect in almost every way. Gavin O'Connor is a very capable writer and director and I'll be peeping more of his work later. But the last act is what disappoints here because it goes from perfection to predictability. I'd love it if they'd have gone a different route to the happy ending than what they did here. It's pretty much cookie cutter and deviates from everything that came before it in regards to style and realism.
There was a scene where Joel's character lied to his wife. He told her he was a bouncer when he was really fighting to make extra money. My problem with it is there was no consequence to the lying. They made it seem like it was no big deal because they needed the extra money the fighting brought in but a lie is a lie and it is a big deal because what if he'd gotten hurt or died? They already established that he got severely injured in a fight before and his family was struggling. What would happen to them if they lost his income and now had to cut and scratch to pay his medical bills in addition to the bills they already couldn't pay? There is no advantage to the lie he told in the movie and in real life, there's no advantage to lying to someone about something not worth lying about. He may have done it so his wife wouldn't worry but if he'd kept up the charade and things didn't go as planned or if she found out through other means, wouldn't that have been worse? This movie failed to show consequence and I want that to be known.
On the flip side, the theme and some of the plot really revolves around the consequence of alcoholism. When you take a certain route in life, and it's a bad one and you know it, and you still choose that route, then you deserve all of the bullshit that comes from it. Nick Nolte played a recovering alcoholic and it fractured his family. As a result, he lost them. Circumstance created a chance for him to get back what he lost but that didn't happen and I applaud the filmmakers for that. A confrontation between him and Tom's character in a casino was quite strong. Tom carried a boatload of animosity and took it out on Nick. It was hard to watch someone take that kind of verbal abuse but at the same time, Nick created that for himself due to his past actions so it was hard to sympathize with him. My point is, when you make what's clearly the bad and wrong decision, you earned and deserve the consequence, and this aspect of the movie came through loud and clear.
I really wish this movie didn't take the typical Hollywood route for its ending. Kurt Angle played a beast of a fighter yet he was defeated by Joel's character who wasn't built up to be a beast or a beast defeater. Nor was his trainer. Tom's character was. Nick was his trainer and he was too. Their path to victory was defined and believable. Joel and Tom played brothers and both had reasons for fighting and winning. That don't mean they should have pit them against each other in the finale. There could have been different plot devices used that could have led to one or both of them accomplishing their goal but not necessarily in the ring. Kurt's and maybe another character could have been used to make that happen. As it stands, as you watch the last part of the movie, you can see what's about to happen and you become disappointed because you went through all that good stuff, that great journey, only to be given what every other movie of this type gives.
I'd hope there's an alternate ending to this with deleted scenes that tells a different last act because this movie could have been something near perfect and great. The story, the acting, the everything was great. Can't stress that enough. It's just the last act, man. It destroys a good thing. Gavin has a bright future ahead of him, that's for sure. I'd like to see him have the opportunity to do something unconventional and non-Hollywood. Something where his writing and directorial skills can shine properly if he's capable of it and I think he is based on this alone. Let the man tell his stories the way they need to be told, Hollywood, and that goes for all filmmakers who are being restrained by the system. Let's get America back to making respectable movies. Definitely go see Warrior and be completely entertained by the first 2 acts if you like dialogue, a slower pace, and solid acting but you've been warned about that last act. I give this 7 out of 10 stars. Woulda been higher if not for, well, you already know.