Warrior (2011)
Directed by Gavin O’Connor
Starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison
Army vet Tommy returns home to his recovering alcoholic father (Nolte), to get trained for an upcoming UFC tournament. Strapped for cash physics teacher Brendon (Edgerton), fighting as a side job to win money, gets suspended and enters the same tournament. However, Tommy and Brendon are estranged brothers.
Two things lead me to Warrior: Tom Hardy and a burgeoning interest in UFC. I take more than two things away from this film. Tom Hardy is continually excellent; the fight scenes in Warrior capture the frenetic brutality of mixed martial arts (MMA); a sports film doesn’t have to rely solely on clichés and I am a sucker for an underdog tale. Saying that, it’s hard to see who you (as the audience) are supposed to be rooting for – each character has flaws and reasons why you are behind them. The final fight I found utterly absorbing and highly emotive, befitting the build up to it. Warrior is a modern day take on the classic fight film and is definitely worth a watch.
The Fried Gold rating: 4/5 – strong leads, great fighting, good script – this is Rocky made in 2012
If you like this then you might like:
The Fighter (brothers fighting each other, but this time Mark Walhberg and Christian Bale are doing it outside the ring. Excellent film, definitely see this)
thefriedgold 
Loved it. What could be a cheesy Rocky type underdog story is transformed into something else by the pure powerful emotion running through it. Performances by Hardy and Nolte in particular pretty much brought me to tears (which is amazing as I’m usually somewhat of an emotional retard when it comes to films…).
4/5 from me – loses points as it’s maybe not the most original storyline in the world, but otherwise pretty spectacular.
Tom Hardy was great in this and I really enjoyed the film however the film was incredibly predictable. This did remind me of The Fighter and out of the two Warrior would come second.
Note: Jennifer Morrison was very cute in this film.
Can’t argue with any of that, I am in complete agreement!