Warrior [DVD]

Make no mistake, Warrior is what I refer to as The Perfect Friday Night Movie: Get a pizza in (preferably thin crust!)wipe your HDTV screen clean, and stick on the blu-ray. For a ridiculously touched-up poster, Warrior didn't have to convince me to see it; the fact Tom Hardy has been referred to as the British Marlon Brando is the reason. With the exception of Christian Bale, I absolutely detest The Fighter: It's riddled with more Irish-American cliches than Far and Away and is oh-so annoying at the best of times. You can understand my trepidation as I awaited for this drama to unfold.As "Tap 'em Out" Tommy Reardon, Tom Hardy is massive. The guy's traps are enormous (he's gigantic!) and given his turbulent performance, one can only wet themselves at the prospect of seeing him kick Batman's ass in The Dark Knight Rises. He spends much of his time brooding,looking mean and makes a great effort with his US accent (which I am assuming is an amalgam of regional US dialects or do the good people of Pittsburgh talk like that?) He makes taking a swig of whiskey seem like an art form and can understand why his character has no sense of ambition any more, which is revealed through a surprise twist, midway. And Mr Hardy is that rare thing since Gary Oldman: He's scary and unpredictable. Tom's dual role not only required a physical transformation, but to convince us he's an MMA fighter (don't worry, I was convinced within 1 minute!)A credit to director Gavin O'Connor, who said Tommy was the only actor who could play the troubled, younger Conlon sibling.This isn't just a film about slugging it out UFC-style; this is a class in heavyweight acting. Tom's scenes with Nick Nolte as his ex-alcoholic father Paddy, are both funny and very moving. If Nolte doesn't get an Oscar nod (and post Oscar hindsight, he did but was robbed), then there's no justice in this world..the old man's still got it and sure he recalled his drunken past for this role of a lifetime. Joel Edgerton is another Aussie who's graduated from the "Time to Fool Everyone with a Convincing American Accent, School of Acting" - as Tom's elder brother, Brendan Conlon. It takes a long time before they meet (think of DeNiro and Pacino in Heat) and when they do, it's intense and explosive stuff. One of the twists is that they fight each other in the ring; how they get there will become apparent as you watch.In what is billed as a man's film, Jennifer Morrison from House is the calming influence as Brendan's missus. She's not just a pretty blonde, she has heart and she's sassy too. I could believe more in her as Tess; than Amy Adams's Oirish barmaid in The Fighter, who, let's face it, was quite the skank! Warrior's' greatest strength is that it takes its time and doesn't overwhelm you and doesn't try to prove anything either. It's great film making and Gavin O'Connor deserves a pint (or three). In much the same way Rocky(1976) was shot on a very low budget, this has that same Everyman approach. In fact,Warrior owes a debt to Rocky in its pre-title credits and the split-screen training montages. The fights are a feast for any UFC fan and kick serious ass. In parts, it's classic Americana: Downbeat and has a lot of charm; on the other, it makes me want to visit Pittsburgh now and to stick Ode to Joy on my iPod!Special nods to the actors who played the students; the always great Kevin Dunn as Principal Zito (you couldn't make it up) and Bryan "The Hangover" Callen as a very funny UFC commentator. And Kurt Angle as a Russian head case!If I have any gripes about Warrior, is that I would've liked to have seen the regimen of training to become an Ultimate Fighting Champion. And more scenes of Jennifer Morrison in her underwear (maybe they'll happen to find some deleted scenes and stick them on the blu-ray).The blu-ray is gorgeous - do yourself the biggest favour and order it from Amazon: I prefer the cover of a lone Tommy with his back to us; than an overpriced high street record store, who uses a different poster and hikes up the price as well. The film looks amazing and the special features are great (nice to see Hardy looking comfortable in an interview as opposed to being interrogated by a second-rate UK chat show host).Since critics have compared Tom to Brando, in which case I'll leave you with his most memorable role as ex prize-fighter, Terry Malloy from On the Waterfront. Yes, I still get the chills re-watching it and yes, I'm sure Hardy drew some inspiration too. An all-time, classic movie moment.[...]

There is a saying that "there are no new stories" and this is a case in point. As other reviews have pointed out the struggling under dog, two battling brothers, "father issues" and the one last chance to get what you want does mean that this could be the UFC Cinderella Man or coming out in the same year even a bit like the autumn version of The Fighter.However if you accept that all films have a passing similarity to at least something that's gone before then this is a highly polished example of a familiar tale, it is further enhanced by an excellent script and brilliant acting, Tom Hardy in the space of a year has been the wise cracking forger in Inception, the skittish English spy in Tinker, Tailor and now the huge and powerful ex US Marine Tommy in the warrior, it's hard to believe it's the same guy in all 3 films and yet is completely believable playing these very different characters. Dare I say it, could he be this generation's De Niro? However the role of the now sober alcoholic and abusive dad was written for Nick Nolte and a bit like the character he's portraying Nick knows this could be a last hurrah and grabs onto the role with both hands giving a performance that is a master class in understated acting (surely a best supporting actor nomination in the Oscars?). Then Joel Edgerton plays the most likeable of the central trio as the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts- don't call them cage fighters!) fighter who after getting badly hurt turned to teaching, but now has to step back into the ring. He may not have the power house moments of the other 2 but he's the easiest character to root for as it's simply win fights or lose his house and as he has a wife and 2 small kids it's an emotional resonance perfect for the current domestic anxieties across the globe.Indeed like the first Rocky this is a film very much of it's time- recession, foreign war, war widows are the current sign of the times and adds a level of reality to what isn't a true a story but in the future you will just know this has to be set around 2011. However the main thing to add spice to this impressively grown up mixture is this is an MMA sports film not a boxing film and that's an important difference, having only ever seen 1 UFC fight on TV I was not ready for the electrifying fights. We've all seen enough boxing in films to know the basic moves even if you aren't a fight fan, however here almost anything goes, so you go from familiar exchanges of punches to powerful kicks, to the gasps that will come out of you when somebody gets thrown to the floor, to being up close and personal in the horrifyingly intimate grapples. There's simply more for a film maker to show then just above the belt punches and blocks. This is what makes the quest of the central characters even more frantic and even a little tragic- these are desperate men indeed.A must see film that didn't make a huge wave under initial cinema release, possibly because the topic wasn't the more familiar boxing, possibly because there were no big names either in front of or behind the camera but this film needs to get a bigger audience and hopefully here on DVD/BluRay that discovery will start.If you liked this there's more historical debate and fun at @HistoryGems on Facebook and Twitter