What do you think of when you hear the term “MMA”? Some might think did you just say “MDMA”? I think about the time that guys in my residence hall two years ago had a fight club and beat up each other. Others know exactly what I’m talking about and are huge Chuck Liddell fans.
“Warrior” is set in the world of MMA and stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as estranged brothers/fighters/foreigners with American accents. Nick Notle is their alcoholic (also estranged!) father.
The Oscars seem to love them some boxing movies (“Taxi Driver,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Rocky,” etc.), and some people said that “Warrior” was snubbed this year Oscar nom-wise. So that’s basically why I watched the movie and why I’m writing about it now.
Tattoos and MMA Bros 4 Life: The Feature Film
The movie’s actually pretty solid, and I liked the three main leads a lot (especially Nick Notle, who received the movie’s only and much deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor). I did feel like there wasn’t enough emotional payoff at the end, but I’m not going to get into that because I don’t want this blog entry to be spoilery. The script has some problems in that it feels almost hokey at times, but I was surprised at how grounded the film always felt.
“Warrior” has a final scene that almost makes up for all of the movie’s flaws, so in general, movie reviewing terms, I give this movie a thumbs up!!! See it!!! No, I’m not going to resort to that. I can see how some people could really appreciate this movie (and others not so much), but if you enjoy old-fashioned movie drama with some interestingly-choreographed MMA fights thrown in, “Warrior” is for you.
Plus, it’s really great to see Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton (two stars that movie studios are really betting on in the coming years) act alongside each other. This movie made me a (bigger) fan of both actors.
