This movie has been out for two weeks and has yet to make any sort of an impact so I figure I’ll keep this brief…Warrior (for all 99% of the country that hasn’t seen it or heard of it) is a mixed martial arts movie. It hopes to be for this sport what Rocky was for boxing, but–as evidenced by the piss poor grosses–no such luck. I don’t know why mixed martial arts fans are reluctant to embrace this movie, but can only guess watching fictionalized matches just can’t satisfy their bloodlust. [The sport is no fun unless someone is actually getting hurt.]
Warrior’s main problem is that it’s not really about mixed martial arts. It’s about two estranged brothers (Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy) that have taken different life plans (Hardy’s an army deserter and pill popping thug, Edgerton is a family man and teacher) but must get back into the ring to try to salvage their economic situations. So essentially this is a “drama” trying very hard to seem more important than it is by playing up all the same conflicts we’ve seen a thousand times before.
What Works: The movie is actually pretty good (a solid B) even if it never quite lives up to the higher dramatic stakes it wants to. And Nick Nolte as the brother’s alcoholic father is always good no matter the role (yes, even in Zookeeper or The Hulk) and he’s quietly heartbreaking here…
What Doesn’t Work: The same can’t exactly be said for Edgerton or Hardy, both of whom seem a little out of their depth in this movie. Hardy particularly doesn’t create a character so much as a snarling, brooding sociopath that it’s pretty hard to feel anything for. Now I realize that his character isn’t supposed to be the more likable one but by so clearly stacking the sympathy deck in favor of Edgerton we’re never really in suspense as to who will win this match, and I don’t think that can entirely be blamed on the script. Hardy will probably be great as a muscular psychopath in the next Batman movie (where he’s the chief villain) but here it doesn’t work.
Also, the fight’s aren’t even closely matched. The brothers compete in a tournament at the end and Edgerton (as a smaller muscled high school teacher that everyone undercounts) is always much smaller than his opponents while Hardy (who looks like 400 pounds of muscle) is always much bigger. It doesn’t build suspense in Hardy’s matches and Edgerton’s matches seem far fetched that he could keep winning.
What I Would Have Done Differently: It would be great to get a Steven Soderbergh-style, multi-character movie based on the world of Mixed Martial Arts. One that is actually interested in the seedy business side of the sport and the thuggishness of some of its “champions.” I think mixing a high end docu-drama style film with this sport’s down and dirty brutality could really work.