Mark Wahlberg’s The Fighter made
a large impact on the movie scene earlier this year, so it probably
isn’t too much of a surprise to see another fight movie pop up towards
the end of it.
Starring the ever impressive Tom Hardy, Warrior is like the brutal step-brother of The Fighter, grappling and pummelling its way to our affection.
Is it as good as The Fighter? Well, no. But it’s a good effort all the same.
Tom Hardy is the obvious highlight in this movie, whereas The Fighter had several good characters, Warrior really only has two strong ones – Hardy, and his father.
The
story centres around Tommy (Hardy) a former military man who turns up at
his hometown and starts moving up the MMA ranks. Tommy’s formerly
abusive father (Nick Nolte), the recovering alcoholic, is the best
trainer in town apparently so he helps him rise to the top.
A lot of
the story revolves around the relationship Tommy has with his father
and brother. His father is a new man, reformed alcoholic, and repentant
to his kids who don’t want to know. Tommy only wants him for his
training and his brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), doesn’t want to see
him at all.
I don’t
really like MMA to be honest, it just appears to take all the discipline
and art out of martial arts. Whenever I see it, it just looks like two
blokes beating seven shades of awful out of each other. That being said I
did quite enjoy Warrior, and maybe I’ve gained a little more respect for MMA. Maybe.
Tommy is
by far the best character, a troubled soul with good intentions. He
lost a his friend fighting in the Middle East and wants to get into a
national MMA tournament in order to win a million dollars for his
friend’s widowed wife and child. Very noble.
Now a look at his brother. The movie attempts to make his quest seem just as noble, and well, it just isn’t.
Basically
the banks have shafted him just as much as everyone else, meaning he’s
running low on money and may lose the house he lives in with his
beautiful wife and kids. Aw diddums.
Admittedly
this is a decent reason to fight, obviously trying to appeal to the
average American banker haters, but compared to Tommy’s reasons it’s
just utter trivial rubbish. Tommy is fighting for his dead friend’s wife
and kid for God’s sake! I wouldn’t mind but Brendan’s house is massive!
Huge drive, big garage, massive rooms, pretty little garden. Get a
grip.
Because
of this I didn’t find Brendan all that likable. Tommy on the other hand,
really is. It’s a real credit to Tom Hardy that somehow Tommy becomes
the best character in this movie with so little dialogue. Honestly, the
script document he received must have been less than a 1KB in size.
During
the tournament, Tommy has no entrance music, and has no regard for his
opponent or the tournaments rules. He simply walks into the cage
clatters his opponent and walks out. One of the best scenes in this
movie is Tommy’s rematch against some overconfident moron named Mad Dog
who he’s already beaten to a pulp in a training session.
At the
start of the fight, Mad Dog starts with all the intimidating trash talk,
how he’s going to kill Tommy with ease. The bell rings and Tommy floors
him in one punch, pummels him out of consciousness and leaves the cage.
Brilliant.
What’s
Brendan up to in the meantime? Do you really care? I don’t know he’s
fighting other dudes and beating the number one contender who’s
stereotypically Russian.
You might want to skip to the end at this point to avoid any spoilers…
Tommy
doesn’t talk with words, his actions are much louder. Demolishing any
opponent who stands in his way, he quickly moves up the tournament
ladder until the inevitable final against his brother.
And now
we arrive at the worst part in the movie. Brendan wins. What the hell.
Oh they become brothers again and their father is all forgiven, but in
the end of the day, Tommy loses, all be it he does continue with a
broken arm. Seriously this is how much Tommy wanted it! He breaks his
arm and won’t surrender! But God forbid Brendan lose his precious house!
My God!
Tommy went through so much crap in this movie! He left his abusive
father with his mother, she died as he tried to care for her. Then he
goes and fights for his country, saves loads of lives in his spare time,
then attempts to provide for his dead friend’s wife and child by
putting himself through rigorous training and a broken arm. Then Brendan
comes along and wins because his bank account’s fallen on hard times!
Are they serious!?
Anyway, despite that slight disappointment, Warrior is
actually a really good movie that blends sport, if you can call it
that, and family drama really well. If you’re anything like me, you’ll
care little about Brendan but really get behind Tommy and his dad.
It’s as
gritty as it is moving and isn’t just there to appease the bloodthirsty
UFC fans who flocked to it. We watched it in a cinema full of white
dudes in baggy clothing, American basketball tops and sideways baseball
caps. You know the type; the kind who talk about being able to "throw
down in the cage" because they watched a UFC fight. They got way too
into the fight scenes; as good as they were, they’re not real guys, it
was just a movie. It was pretty funny at the end though when they all
got up and cracked their knuckles. I really love society.
Final Verdict: 4 Stars. If Tommy was in The Fighter we might have had the film of the year on our hands.
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