Nordling here.
The plot twists of WARRIOR seem a little bit too “Hollywood,” the Klitschko Brothers notwithstanding, but for many in the audience, it’ll just be the cherry on the sundae of a great movie. For others, it may be a bit too much to accept. But I’ll say this for WARRIOR – no one phones it in, not the actors, and not Gavin O’Connor. WARRIOR may have plot contrivances that are hard to get over, but the movie means what it says. It’s intense, earnest, and for the most part, effective at what it tries to do.
WARRIOR is the story of a severely dysfunctional family, the Conlons. Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte) singlehandedly destroyed the family with his alcoholism, splitting up the two brothers Brendan (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy (Tom Hardy) between Paddy and their mother. The choice each brother makes – Brendan to stay with his father, and Tommy with his mother, changes their relationship forever. Brendan manages to break away from Paddy, start his own family with Tess (Jennifer Morrison), and become a respected physics teacher. Tommy leaves to join the military, has some rough combat in Iraq, and comes home very much a broken man.
What the Conlons all have in common with each other is fighting – specifically, MMA-style fighting. Paddy trained them both, but Tommy got the lion’s share, while Brendan got the scraps. But both, through their father’s training, are formidable in the ring. Tommy returns home to his dad with a proposition – train him to fight in the ring again, for money. He has his eye on the prize of Sparta, a tournament featuring some of the best MMA fighters in the world, and the championship purse is $5 million dollars. Tommy has his own motives behind getting the money, but for Brendan it’s obvious – he’s losing his house, and that money would save it from foreclosure. Anyone who has ever seen a movie before could see what happens next a mile off – the two brothers are destined to come together again.
Many reviewers have gone crazy-in-love for this one, while others can’t get past much of the plot issues. I find myself leaning towards a heavy like. The acting is top-notch across the board, especially Hardy and Nolte. Hardy didn’t come to play – he’s a mean, fierce fighter in the ring, and outside, intense and closed off from the world. He will let no one into his armor, not his father, who he despises and simply uses for his own purposes, and not his brother, for abandoning him. Nick Nolte’s probably going to get some year-end talk for his performance as Paddy Conlon. A man who is coming to terms with the damage he did to his sons, and now sober, Nolte plays Paddy as a truly wounded soul and it’s a tremendous, powerful performance. One wonders how much he drew from real life to bring Paddy to life on the screen. Joel Edgerton is fine as Brendan, and if he’s overshadowed by Hardy it’s through no fault of his own. Hardy is just such a juggernaut in this, and if people are looking for clues to see what Hardy will bring to next year’s DARK KNIGHT RISES, they’ll be sure to find it here.
The direction is impeccable – O’Connor, no stranger to the sports movie, knows how to ratchet the intensity in WARRIOR, even if it’s not exactly original. I am not familiar with MMA fighting in any way, shape, or form, but it’s through O’Connor’s direction and the script, by O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis, and Cliff Dorfman, that the film is easy to follow and understand. The film takes the sport seriously, and because it does that, we do too. The stakes are well drawn out, and we’re invested in what happens. WARRIOR is also well shot, and the fight choreography is easy to understand; each fight is shot with increasing intensity, so that when the final battle arrives we’re very much invested in what happens.
If I don’t seem head-over-heels for WARRIOR, it’s mostly because the film asks the audience to make some leaps with the story. But I have the feeling that won’t be a problem for most people, and I think WARRIOR is going to be heavily embraced. It’s a good movie, and while I don’t anticipate it being on any year-end lists for me, I am impressed enough with the performances and Gavin O’Connor’s work here that I think WARRIOR will be worth your time this weekend.
Nordling, out.
