WARRIOR
PG-13
140 min
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Writers: Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis
Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte and Joel Edgerton
‘Without some damn war to fight, then the warrior may as well be dead, Stallion!’
-Apollo Creed, ROCKY IV
No rules, just right, MMA is the Outback Steakhouse of combat sports. Mixed Martial Arts has gained some legitimacy, it used to be a joke, now it’s just less of one.
Our story takes place in Pittsburgh. Brothers, Brendan (Edgerton) and Tommy (Hardy), are about to duke it out in the most epic of battles, the battle of life.
'…And a brother is born for adversity.'
PROVERBS 17:17
Brenden (Edgerton, used to fight for a living, but he gave that up for the sake of his family. It’s a tough choice we all face eventually: should I teach high school physics or fight in the octagon?
He gets fired from his teaching position. The superintendent told him he can’t fight on his own free time, outside of school.
Joel Edergton delivers a ‘knockout’ Mark Wahlberg impression. His opponents defiantly felt his ‘good vibrations’.
Criticism
I found my attention drifting throughout the duration of this movie. This film is too long and boring; there was not enough actual fighting.
While I have many complaints; there is not much inherently wrong with this film (acting, storyline, characters, and etc.). This genre is just too crowded: with all of those ROCKY, KICKBOXER, and KARATE KID movies. Oh yeah, and there was that prison boxing movie–the one with Snipes.
When I think of Mixed Martial Arts, Joe Rogan comes to mind, yet he is nowhere to be seen in this film (that’s not such a bad thing).
The ending made this movie worth seeing: we find out that there are eight sides to every story.
Final Verdict: 74 out of 100
