Rocky Road.
You'll see just about every sports-movie cliché known to man in 2011's "Warrior" ... and you'll love this flick anyway because Brit Tom Hardy and Aussie Joel Edgerton turn in knockout performances that transcend the preposterous storyline.
OK, bear with me here, because I know you'll be tempted to run away when you hear the trope-tastic premise of this flick. Actually, it's like two underdog sports flicks in one. On the one hand, you have beloved Philadelphia high school physics teacher and family man Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) who is in financial crisis and about to lose his house, so he goes into a mixed martial arts tournament desperately hoping to win the prize money and stave off foreclosure. On the other hand, you have Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy, who gave a breakout performance in 2010's glorious "Inception"), an emotionally troubled but physically muscular bull of man from a working-class Irish family in Pittsburgh, a former Marine now consumed with pain, rage, and bitterness who turns to MMA for his own reasons. Is this flick already hopelessly clichéd (twice over, even!) and shamelessly yanking on your heartstrings? Guilty as charged. What's more remarkable is the fact that Edgerton and Hardy are so fiercely committed to their roles that you believe them: you find yourself actually -- and even in spite of yourself -- engrossed in their cheese-slathered stories.
So guess what, kids -- Brendan and Tommy end up in the same high-stakes MMA tournament, and you don't need me to tell you that they are on track for a massive head-on collision in the finals (in Atlantic City, for goodness sake! in a tournament referred to as "War on the Shore"!). Trying to hide this inevitable confrontation from the audience would be like trying to hide a marching band in a broom closet -- it's completely impossible. Even so, with Edgerton's and especially Hardy's performances, you find yourself not only cheering each one on, but being deeply uncertain which of the two you really want to win in the end. Somehow I found myself being invested in both Brendan and Tommy and their depiction of the vital humanity -- flawed, damaged, and all -- underneath the atavistic fights, testosterone, tattoos, and "300"-esque musculature.
Oh, not enough cheesy storytelling for you? How about this detail: Brendan and Tommy are estranged brothers ... who are both suffering from the breakup of their family when they were teenagers ... and both likewise estranged from their alcoholic father Paddy (Nick Nolte in a great turn) ... who is now training Tommy on Tommy's condition that their relationship be only about the sport. Good grief. This movie is frankly, as one critic said, "too corny to live" ... and yet it somehow still works anyway. The brutal violence of the MMA ring is really the metaphor for and extension of Brendan and Tommy's escalating internal struggles. The final confrontation is pure emotional dynamite.
Rounding out the cast in supporting roles is Jennifer Morrison (recently of House) as Adrian Tess, Brendan's wife who is opposed to his MMA pursuits; Kevin Dunn as Brendan's boss Principal Zito who comes with a waffling charm; and Frank Grillo as Frank Campana, Brendan's unorthodox but charismatic trainer.
The obvious recent film to compare with "Warrior" is 2010's "The Fighter" with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, but I confess that I haven't seen that yet. I'll blog something when I do! Now onto ...
You know, there's plenty of room for cynical mockery when it comes to formulaic sports movies about underdogs ("Dodgeball" is a hilarious satire and "The Cutting Edge" all but a spoof) ... but I don't care. If the movie is well done, then who cares about cliché, trope, and formula? We wouldn't have clichés if they didn't work in the first place. "Rocky," "Hoosiers," "Rudy," "Remember the Titans," "Seabiscuit," "Cinderella Man"... We love these flicks. I love these flicks. So what if it's sometimes escapist? Oh, but not always. Sometimes the underdog victory really does happen in unforgettable ways. (Note that the director of "Warrior," Gavin O'Connor, also directed "Miracle.") Sport, it turns out in almost every case, isn't only about scores, wins, and losses but about being human with all the complexities and complications that go with it. The best and greatest of the sport flicks -- no matter how corny they are (and there's enough corn to choke you with ethanol subsidies) -- resonate with the human condition and bring us back to that emotionally visceral point. "Warrior" does that too. Amid all the ferociously physical kicks and throws, it is about family, and it is about the hope and desire for reconciliation, and you can hardly ask for a bigger emotional punch to the gut than that. Catharsis can hurt so good.
Mad Minerva gives this film a B+. Aside from all the corny glory, I just can't dislike a sports film that includes ancient Greek history, Beethoven, and Moby Dick.
"Rotten Tomatoes" gives "Warrior" a Fresh rating of 83%.
The official website is here.
"Warrior" runs for 140 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some language and adult themes but mostly for savage MMA fighting sequences.
Here's the trailer:
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