Review of Warrior (2011) by Moviekretik — 02 Nov 2011

A wonderfully, well written story! (FYI : I'm not a fan of MMA nor even boxing though I'm a fan of Manny Pacquiao.) My first glance, I thought it's gonna be like The Fighter since this film is about fighting sports and there's a brother relationship.

But here, the brothers are against to each other. The film doesn't really spend so much time dealing with their relationship. It mostly goes to the father of the main leads. Tom Hardy (Tommy Conlon) delivers a moving and emotional performance of a man who has suffered greatly from the ones he loves, and from the field of battle, an all to real reality for people of today.

While the younger Tommy suffered the loss of his mother firsthand, his older brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton)has put together a life that a man dreams of, yet is still haunted daily by his past. Only to have it threatened to be destroyed by the bank.

Nick Nolte the alcoholic father of the two, has suffered years of remorse and regret from the abuse of alcohol and the neglect of his wife and children is trying to forge a bond but is meeting a stone wall with both of his sons.

The fighting, though it is very well acted and shot, is not about fighting. It is the physical representation of the struggle between the three men, the struggle to forget and forgive and to move on. The demons that possess all three of these men are of such great proportion, the only way they can be relinquished is for them to come together.