Movie Review: Warrior

Synopsis: The youngest son (Tom Hardy) of an alcoholic former boxer (Nick Nolte) returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament -- a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his older brother (Joel Edgerton). The two brothers face the fight of a lifetime - and the wreckage of their broken family - within the brutal, high-stakes world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

I love MMA but I saw the previews for this and immediately thought it looked like it was full of all the clichés that this genre is known for. I thought it was going to be another MMA version of Rocky meets Miracle with a bit of The Fighter for good measure. Well, I really wasn't that wrong. But I sure was surprised to find that this film totally transcends those cliches with some great gripping action, powerful acting and a whole bunch of heart.

Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton are great as the estranged brothers, but it's Nick Nolte that steals the show with just a fantastic performance. There's a gripping scene in a hotel room that actually had me in tears, and I don't do that watching movies very often. If you think Nolte can't still act, you are dead wrong. Wow.

For fans of MMA, the cage action is somewhat realistic and well done so you're not rolling your eyes the whole time. It does have a bit of the expected silliness. They act like it's winner-takes-all as one guy is fighting to save his house but fans would know that even if he lost he'd get endorsement contracts galore to save himself so it's not like if he loses he's out on the street as they make it seem. And without spoiling anything, there's a fight where a fighter is obviously too hurt to continue but they let him fight anyway, which ain't happening in today's world of MMA. Tim Sylvia got his arm broke by Frank Mir and despite his pleas, it was stopped, and I can think of other exceptions. It's no longer "human cock fighting", but a civilized sport with rules to protect the combatants especially when they can't protect themselves.

But anyway, despite the plausibility of the final fight, I still loved the ending. Hey, it's only a movie. And I thought this one is actually a pretty damn good sports movie.

8/10