Warrior Movie Review
Shoot at the walls of heartache Bang! Bang!
Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. It was either that or “Warriors! Come out and playyyay.” Anyway, last night’s date ended early, which may or may not bode ill, although given my current track record is not a promising sign, and I stopped off at Jack London Square to watch this movie. I had seen trailers and it looked like a bad Rocky remake, only with MMA. I have not been a huge MMA fan to date. I mean sure, like any primitive testosterone enhanced American male I enjoy watching guys beat the hell out of each other, but I don’t actively follow it. I would rather watch that than boxing, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. (Drago image courtesy of the movie t-shirt category, and is kind of appropriate given this movie features a scary Russian fighter too).
So I went into this film not expecting much. I mean, Nick Nolte is an actor I enjoy, but the other guys looked kind of dopey and the title alone was enough to give me the bad review writing itch. But then, as the movie progressed and led to the climax, I experienced one of the rarest things an embittered, soulless movie critic such as myself can: excitement.
Yes, this movie was exciting. I got totally drawn in to the characters. I found myself rooting for both of the main protagonists, wondering how each was going to beat their next, progressively nastier opponent, and even the sub plot dealing with Nick Nolte’s character trying to reconcile his relationship with is two estranged sons had me in neck deep. I followed the training sequences avidly (this isn’t a stretch for me. Any martial arts movie should have training sequences) and even bought the wife and stupid high school kids as really decent supporting characters.
I don’t know why we are having so many good movies coming out in late August/early September. Traditionally this is the doldrums of movie making.
Anyway, the story. Muscle bound Tom Hardy (actually really good film biography here. I was surprised. Inception, Layer Cake (great film), Rocknrolla) as Tommy Conlon shows up on his father’s (Nick Nolte) door after being gone for 15 years or so. He left with his mother, who died penniless, and now blames his father for her death. The father, Paddy, trained Tom and his brother Brendon in wrestling. They have some awkward, mumbling conversation and Tommy bails out. Meanwhile, his estranged brother Brendon (Joel Edgerton – less impressive biography here. You might remember him as young Uncle Owen from Star Wars Episode II and III. Other than than kind of junk) is a high school physics teacher in danger of losing his house to the bank after financing heart surgery for his daughter. He is making money fighting at local strip bars and gets suspended for it. They both hear about the biggest MMA fight in the world with a $5MM prize and decide to train for it (turns out Tommy is committed to helping out the family of his friend killed while they both served in Iraq in the Marines). Tommy trains with Paddy and Brendon with an old friend Frank (Frank Grillo – Guiding Light, Minority Report, Edge of Darkness). Brendon is dealing with his hot wife ((Jennifer Morrison – House M.D., Star Trek 2009, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) who doesn’t want him to fight, as he got hurt doing it before.
Anyway, there is a big montage of training that works really well. The sub plots weave kind of seamlessly into the story without getting in the way or being annoyingly distracting. Both guys are fighting for a noble cause, and you end up not sure who you want to see win. I found myself rooting for both. The story is a little on the predicable side, but the action and characters are exciting enough to keep your mind off that.
The stars. Really, really exciting (most exciting for since Unstoppable). Two stars. Even though all the guys spoke like they had a mouthful of marbles, they still (or because of) managed to deliver very real characters whom I firmly believed. Well done IMO. One star. Good supporting characters. One star. Good sub plots. One star. Nick Nolte. One star. I know this probably has a lot to do with my own history, but the whole father/son reconciliation thing really spoke to me. One star. The fight sequences toward the end were very well shot and drew the audience in. You really felt the hits. One star. The ending really worked, and didn’t at all try to get sappy. One star. Overall the story never bugged me too much, and made sense. One star. Total: ten stars.
The black holes. I find it hard to believe that all it takes for two completely unknown fighters to get entered into the worlds largest MMA fight is a couple of phone calls. One black hole. The writer and director blatantly strived to manipulate my emotions (and for the most part succeeded). I know that is their job, but sometimes I find myself annoyed by such heavy handed approaches. One black hole. You know, I’m wracking my brain and can’t really come up with anything else (and even that last one was a stretch). Pacing was good. Dialog was good. Film work adequate. Two black holes total.
So a grand total of eight stars and my hearty recommendation that you go see it in the theater. The fight scenes really have a great impact on the larger screen. You could wait, but I don’t think it would be as good on a TV.
I think that’s it for new movies until next weekend, although I supposed I have to see Bucky Larson at some point. I am dreading that film like a root canal. Next weekend we have some cool stuff coming out like Drive, Straw Dogs, and I Don’t Know How She Does It (what I don’t know is if Sarah Jessica Parker will still look hot at 46 and playing a working mother, but we’ll see). Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu. Thanks for reading this! Talk to you soon.
Dave
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