Warrior
Starring: Director: Gavin O'Connor
Rating: 5/5
Warrior is a movie that I have been looking forward to for many months - it is a movie that promised plenty but delivered even more.
An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport.
As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family.
Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father.
But when Brendan’s unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense, winner-takes-all battle of their lives.
What can I say about this movie? It blew me away from start to finish it is a fine piece of work from a filmmaker who got the best and some from his cast.
Sure the fight scenes in the second half of the film are brutal - you kind of feel like you have been knocked around the cage yourself - but they are just awesome.
And while you would expect a movie about a mixed martial arts to have plenty of action it's the central performances of the actors that really make this movie.
Both Hardy, Edgerton and Nolte play damaged men in performances that are riveting from start to finish.
Hardy, as we have come to expect from the actor, is simply superb as Tommy - a man who is still scarred by the betrayals and difficulties of the past - it a raw and emotional performance that should be applauded.
Edgerton is also excellent as a father who is trying to make ends meat for his family so get back in the fighting to make some money.
His family are what drives them forward but he is still haunted by the decisions that he made in his past.
It's also a tour de force turn from veteran Nick Nolte as a recovered alcoholic who is seeking redemption and forgiveness from his two sons.
Those who are unsure about Warrior don't be this is not a movie just about MMA it is a character driven piece that will have you on the edge of your seat from the opening scene.
This is meaner and tougher that The Fighter - a film I enjoyed immensely earlier this year - and it pack so much more of an emotional punch.
Warrior is a movie that rises about all of the cliches and conventions that could have dogged it to bring a realistic, honestly some of those fight scenes are brutal, and heart wrenching picture.
This is not to be missed!!!
Warrior is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Tom Hardy