On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: WARRIOR (Lionsgate).

WARRIOR
Not one, but two underdogs fighting their way to the top.
By Britt Bensen

I’m a huge sports fan, but will admit to not follow Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting. WARRIOR touted itself as the ROCKY for MMA. Lofty ambition, but it holds itself well as a story of underdogs trying to fight their way up from the bottom. Lesser known actors (but only because they have only recently begun to make names for themselves in the US), Joel Edgerton (Brendan) and Tom Hardy (Tommy) are the heart of the film as brothers who are also warriors in the octagon. The story is supported by solid performances by Jennifer Morrison as Brendan’s wife (Tess) and Nick Nolte as the two main characters crotchity father (Paddy Conlon).

It’s the patriarch’s former conduct towards his sons growing up (preceding the movie’s storyline) that has created the main conflict in the film. A former wrestling coach and alcoholic, Paddy drove his children and now deceased wife away with his abusive behavior.

Nolte gives a very believable performance as a weathered soul suffering for previous trangressions. It seems like a long time since Nolte the actor was baring his chest in “Rich Man, Poor Man” or THE DEEP and he depicts a long and tortuous life in his wrinkled face and gravelly voice. Paddy has found religion and listens to motivational tapes in his current simpler and lonlier existence when Tommy remerges at the beginning of the film.

Down on his luck and looking like a drowned rat, the once undefeated high school wrestler has returned in need of a trainer. Why? He’s learned of a winner-take-all $5 million prize for a 16 combatant MMA style tournament in Atlantic City, NJ called Sparta. Why he is down and out and wants the money is explained throughout the movie (and I won’t reveal it here), but it’s affected him enough that he is willing to re-enter his estranged father’s life in exchange for free and proven training. It’s the one thing he feels his father can do well. He otherwise wants no part of a father-son relationship, that Paddy clearly is interested in.

The movie depicts moving scenes in their fissured relationship, but save for Paddy following Tommy in a car on a run, I wished it had shown the actual training more. What are Paddy’s methods that are so good that can motivate his distrusting son? Tommy is looking to contend vs some of the world’s best MMA fighters and the film missed the Rocky and Mick moments a fighter & trainer have. In fact, I saw more footage of Tom Hardy (the actor) train for the role in the behind-the-scenes than Tommy the character in WARRIOR. At a 140 minutes, maybe they cut it.

The other film’s subplot revolves around Tommy’s older brother Brendan. Married, father of 2 and local Physics teacher, Brendan seems to have his act together. But perhaps more relevant to real life family financial woes, Brendan and his wife don’t have enough income to keep their house from being foreclosed after a refinancing from an unsympathetic bank.

As a former UFC fighter, Brendan decides to moonlight and takes matters into his own hands (and knees and feet and elbows). He comes upon a local MMA challenge in the parking lot adjacent to a strip club. Similar clientele? Long story short, it leads him on the path towards entering Sparta too.

This is the biggest issue I had with WARRIOR. Sparta is being televised and even includes updates from ESPN about reknown fighters joining the big pay day. Both brothers have a connections to MMA managers with contestants in the tournament, but how do the 2 non-active MMA fighters get into this coveted bout? Brendan has turned to an entrusted friend and current trainer to help, played by the likeable Frank Grillo. The respective managers each make a call and presto, the fighting Conlons are in! The torunament has 16 entries, not 160!

Anyway, despite a more plausible manner, they’re in and if you can get beyond that trivial matter and are ready for a sometimes impractical, gritty underdog story, than WARRIOR is for you. Director Gavin O’Connor (MIRACLE) knows his sports movies and he delivers two unlikely mutts to root for along with terrific choreograqphed fight scenes. The emotional ending is lifted by the superb song “About Today” by The National. Give a listen as you read this. I am.

I recommend WARRIOR and will look back at it as the film where I first saw Hardy & Edgerton in leading roles. I look forward to more from these two warriors. In a year of weak contenders for top awards, I’m a little surprised WARRIOR isn’t receiving more attention. Perhaps the two leads cancelled themselves out in a field of highly notable actors (Clooney, Pitt, etc), but Nolte and The National deserve better.

And who doesn't love an underdog story?

- Britt Bensen