Warrior is a chemistry project, as formulaic as they come. Another in a line of fight movies that borrows so much from its predecessors that it is rendered almost indescernable. But there is something about the film that is just hard to shake. It is compelling and exciting to watch.
Part of what makes the film work is that it borrows the right elements from fight films. Rocky, Raging Bull, and Million Dollar Baby at their hearts are films about broken people. People who have no other options. People left with one last opportunity to make something of themselves. People looking for some form of redemption, trying to prove a point. Warrior captures these motifs perfectly.
Nick Nolte is Paddy, a grizzled father who has largely been absent from his children’s life, and his own. He wears the years of alcohol abuse on his face and demeanor. He is a broken shell of a man, desperately trying to salvage a family that never was. He takes his opportunity to train his son with the last glimmering possibility of redemption. Nolte’s performance is startlingly strong. He perfectly captures a man so spent and tired, grovelling in desperation for any semblance of meaning beyond the bottle.
Joel Edgerton plays older son Brendan, a man confronted with the reality of losing his home. He is a teacher who was only an average fighter and wanted nothing more than to impress his father.
Tom Hardy plays Tommy, a former Marine who is facing some hard times. Strung-out on pills, he too is seeking redemption but not from his father or brother.
These are broken men, with hearts heavier than their hands. Desperate times make for interesting films.
The fighting in the film is really well done. The film will set your heart racing in anticipation. The camera work captures the excitement of mixed martial arts, a sport that has easily supplanted boxing as the prefered combat sport of the millennial generation. The scenes are gripping and realistic. My viewing compatriots certainly gasped and reacted with an authenticity that speaks to the quality of the scenes.
The film has its short comings. Warrior relies on the over-used and much maligned training montage. Particularly egregious is that the film almost shot-for-shot takes some of these scenes from Rocky. Of course, even the montage is updated for the millennials with multiple scenes careening across the screen as if they were on an iPad controlled by a teen with a few too many energy drinks.
The story is also one we have heard before, with well-worn characters–the drunken father, the hard worker falling on hard times, the mystery man with a dark past… and everyone having one last shot.
This film tries to distinguish itself with a sort of intellectual spin. As a child Tommy was obsessed with the undefeated ancient-Greek fighter Theogenes. Joel trains with classical music. Paddy obsessively listens to an audio book of Herman Melville‘s Moby-Dick. The brothers fight in a competition called Sparta. Literary and cultural references are literally strewn across this film. But they do not always seem coherent or purposeful. Almost like a wink and a nudge reminding the viewer that this not a brutal sport or film, but is grounded in culture and history. But like the fighters, the references were a little heavy-handed.
Warrior is a good fight movie. It will not steal awards like some of its aforementioned predecessors, but it is exciting and interesting. We all love the underdog and Warrior gives us more than one to cheer for, even if none of them are perfect.
PARSI VERDICT: The film may not be perfect but it certainly delivers a punch.
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