Review of film: "WARRIOR"

Review of film:  “WARRIOR”

Talk about your “grudges” & DYSFUNCTIONAL families!...  This movie is almost a “paean” to both circumstances...

...  Paddy Conlon (NICK NOLTE) is a fairly “worn-out” widowed senior citizen...  He’s surprised when he finds a VISITOR on the doorstep of his house--  & even more shocked when he realizes it’s his youngest son, Tommy (TOM HARDY), who’d been gone for years & OUT-OF-CONTACT with him...

...  As they get to talking, you immediately get a “queasy” feeling about the huge amount of ANGER Tom exhibits towards Nick.  He makes clear he didn’t really WANT to be there, but felt he had no “CHOICE” as he was fairly DESPERATE...

...  Tom doesn’t want to go into any real details about where he’d BEEN & what he’d been DOING, but makes clear he “wants” some things from Nick --  such as a place to STAY for a while -- & was NOT going to be GRATEFUL for anything...

...  Bit-by-bit, we learn that Nick had long been a DRUNK & ABUSIVE to Tom & his beloved mother, for which Tom had NEVER really forgiven him... 

...  It seems that Tom had finally gotten his mother to be strong enough to come with him & LEAVE the rough relationship with Nick... 

...  When they’d left the area, Tom had changed his LAST NAME to REARDON (seemingly his mom’s maiden name), not wanting to be “associated” with Nick in any way, which is why he’d been silent to him for so long...

...  Tom speaks of how his mom had DIED, & how bad he’d felt that she hadn’t been “honored” with any kind of “remembrance” or the like from Nick at that time...

...  Nick quickly says, he feels SORRY for how he’d been in the past, but he’d “CHANGED” in that he for some years had sworn off the alcohol which’d been a huge contributor to his foul condition & actions... 

...  Tom is DOUBTFUL about that & not “impressed”, & acts like he’s doing Nick almost a “FAVOR” by being willing to stay there with him after the way he’d been in the past...     

...  At one point, we learn the older brother, Brendan (JOEL EDGERTON), LIVES in the same general locale as Nick, with his wife Tess (JENNIFER MORRISON) & kids...

...  Joel had become a school teacher of Physics, &, tho he loved the work, with the bad state of the economy & all, it was very HARD for him to get by FINANCIALLY, especially in that he needed more money to keep paying the mortgage on his house...

...  Joel tries to get money from the bank, but (typically), they’re not really eager to HELP him with his fiscal problems... 

...  Thus, he reluctantly returns to doing something he’d USED to do, namely, taking some “under-the-table” MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) FIGHTS to try to make some “SIDE” money...

...  Knowing that Jennifer never liked his being a fighter, he keeps his actions SECRET from her...  But, it soon becomes impossible to “hide” what he’s doing, because of all the BRUISES that start showing up on his face & mid body...  What she sees & learns makes Jennifer very displeased...

...  Joel had stayed in the area BECAUSE of Jennifer.  While he was “civil” in his relationship with Nick, he purposely keeps him at a “DISTANCE” because of his own past problems with Nick’s abusiveness...

...  Needing to make some money (& having no other “feasible” way to make it readily), TOM ALSO decides to return to doing MMA type BOXING... His dad Nick had once been a boxer & then a TRAINER...

...  Tom reluctantly “allows” Nick to HELP him train for his meets--  but again goes out of his way to reiterate he’s NOT going to be “GRATEFUL” for any such efforts, feeling Nick in-effect “OWES” such things to him for his past bad treatment of him & his mother...

...  Altho Nick makes clear JOEL still lives in the area, Tom is not really interested in getting TOGETHER with him...  It seems Tom had wanted him to leave the area with him & their mom, but then-teenager Joel had refused to do that because he wanted to stay & live with his eventual WIFE Jennifer...

...  Yes--  Tom once more is holding a huge “GRUDGE” about that, too!...       

...  Joel keeps doing his OWN training for his MMA fights, with his old gym-owning friend named Frank Campana (FRANK GRILLO), despite the fact that Jennifer is “against” such efforts, feeling it was the only way to keep a ROOF over their “heads”... 

...  He keeps fighting against well-known “name” fighters, & keeps WINNING...  So, we keep being introduced to various “intrigues” going on in the fight game, with people wanting to “REPRESENT” him, loser fighters wanting to get “BACK” at him, etc...

...  On his own, Tom LIKEWISE wins all his brawls, & he too is involved in “maneuverings” by others...  His attitude is simple:  he doesn’t care about getting any
“accolades” from the crowd--  he just wants to violently PUMMEL his opponents into submission & then LEAVE the ring...

...  A big OPPORTUNITY arises nearby, in the form of a huge “ROUND-ROBIN” TOURNAMENT pitting 16 middleweight MMA fighters against each other...

...  Both Tom & Joel work to separately ENTER the competition, trying to win the big prize money...

...  We see them work out, train, & FIGHT various opponents...  That has them dealing with people like Stephon (DENZEL WHITAKER), fighter Fenroy (FERNANDO CHIEN), huge “big name” fighter Colt Boyd (MAXIMILIANO HERNÁNDEZ), & others...

...  At certain points, Joel has talks with his school’s Principal Zito (KEVIN DUNN), who tries to talk him OUT of doing fighting rather than teaching...  And, Jennifer refuses to ATTEND his various fights...

...  At one point, the fight announcers keep wondering just “WHO” TOM is, since nothing is known about his “BACKGROUND” & he’s supposedly just “appeared” on the scene...  

...  Then, an American military combatant in Iraq happens to see a broadcast of one of the matches, & advises the “world” that Tom had SAVED his LIFE in Iraq when they were ATTACKED by terrorists...  So, Tom is declared to be a “HERO”...

...  Would Tom & Joel ever really TALK to each other about their “pasts”-- &, if so, will any real “PROGRESS” be made in their relationship?... 

...  Will Kevin ever be SUPPORTIVE of his teacher Joel in his fight career?...

...  Would the soldiers continue to support TOM when it’s revealed that he’d gone A.W.O.L. after the firefight where he’d saved lives of some in his company in Iraq?...

...  Would Tom ever reach a point of being “FORGIVING” & GRATEFUL to Nick?...  Would JOEL ever treat Nick that way?...

...  What will happen when the “big match” pits TOM & JOEL AGAINST each OTHER in the “Final” of the Best-of-16 fight?!...

...  This could have been a horrible “cliché” of various fight movies--  but it ISN’T!  The writers, actors & director manage to make it a “FAMILY” story more than just an account of physical combat... 

...  It’s not a “perfect” film:  it’s a bit hard to believe that, with the ever-present existence of the INTERNET, “no one” had tried to discover FACTS about the mysterious background of TOM’s character (despite how the announcers keep “speculating” about that over & over again)...

...  And, the public response to Tom by the soldiers, despite the “A.W.O.L.” situation, seems a bit “far-fetched” in its “everyone-feels-the-same” reaction... But, those are fairly MINOR matters overall...

...  Do understand, this is not any “namby-pamby” type movie.  It’s very TOUGH & at times BRUTAL in its MMA combat violence.  You’re almost “exhausted” yourself when you keep going “thru” the various rounds of both physical & EMOTIONAL ferocity!...  

...  The main characters are given an unusual “DEPTH” by the fine writing & acting by all involved...  (It’s good to see NICK NOLTE doing “quality” work again, & to be “introduced” to impressive NEW talents JOEL & TOM...)  

  

...  Because the 140-minute PG-13 film is so WELL-DONE, I’m rating it at 8.25 out of 10 stars...

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