Rating: A (4 out of 4 stars)
“Warrior,” which opens today, will attract the masses with its down and dirty Mixed Martial Arts cage matches that out-kick, out-punch and out-bodyslam other boxing or wrestling movies. Underneath all the testosterone-fueled battle, however, there lurks a poignant and profound family drama about a trio of prodigals coming home.
Nick Nolte, in a performance that should win him an Oscar nod, is Paddy, an alcoholic approaching 1,000 days of sobriety. He lives quietly, depending on AA and his Bible to get him through each day, but the shadow of his failures hangs over him and colors his world with regret. His longing to atone for his bad behavior is palpable; his acceptance that nothing can fix the mess he made, tragic.
One adult son, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), has managed to marry, have kids and become a high school teacher despite his rough upbringing. Tommy (Tom Hardy), however, has been out of touch since he moved away with the boys’ mother in childhood.
Tommy resurfaces, full of anger and fresh from a tour with the Marines in Iraq. He sets his eyes on a Mixed Martial Arts tournament with a $5 million prize. His father failed at everything, he says, except training Tommy to fight, so he enlists his help in training and nothing else. Brendan, desperate to save his home from foreclosure, enters the same tournament.
If the skeleton story of two estranged brothers entering the same tournament were all there were to the film, there would be nothing to distinguish it from other sports sagas. In fact, the tournament feels contrived, a lazy way to string a story together.
Turns out, the story is contrived in the same way a Shakespeare play is contrived. The characters and pathos, though hung on an unlikely skeleton, make a powerful whole.
Tommy runs from more than his memories of his abused mother and abusive father. He has a past in Iraq that troubles him almost as much as his abandonment by Paddy and Brendan. Brendan, a good husband and great father, sags under the weight of his burdens, including the unfair choice he was forced to make between Tommy and his father.
As for Paddy, he would happily lay down his life to undo the wrongs he committed. Of course, such an easy option is not available. The only way out for Paddy is through the mire of his sons’ anger.
When Brendan or Tommy step into a ring, each is doing more than merely fighting. They’re expending a lifetime’s worth of rage, expressing with muscle and sinew things they can’t say with words. They wrestle for a future that is better than their past and struggle to bring the past into alignment with the present.
It’s a lot to ask from a cage match.
Those familiar with the Ultimate Fighting Championship or Mixed Martial Arts will be prepared for the anything-goes nature of the fights. Dirty hits and below-the-belt jabs are just the beginning in this real sport. Body slams and wrestling moves mix with punching and kicking until someone is incapable of moving. “I wanted to know who the toughest man in the world is,” announces the man who sponsors the match. There can be little doubt that the winners of such fights can take just about any challenger. The brutal fighting gives the film its PG-13 rating. Besides a little language and some shots of Brendan’s wife in her underwear, only the fighting and intense subject matter keep it from being appropriate for kids.
I tend to think of films in terms of whether they’d appeal more to people in red states or more to people in blue states. While either can be excellent or awful, blue-state movies rely more on irony, slipping easily into cynicism and nihilism. Red-state movies are generally more straightforward, often wary of irony, trending toward the saccharine. “The Blind Side” is red state. “American Beauty” is blue state.
Some ultra-urban, ultra-cynical blue-staters will be uncomfortable with “Warrior” for its unapologetic combination of machismo and emotion, but they should give it a chance. The military is not given a free pass in the film, but Tommy’s Iraq experience is respected and the USMC even more so. This movie will play well with people who have red-state sensibilities because it posits that there are things worth fighting for, both in the physical sphere and the relational sphere. Its viewpoint makes it red state, but its fine acting, real emotion and excellent production make it one of the best movies of the year so far.
“Warrior” convincingly argues that to be tough is a matter of the inside as well as the outside. As the three men battle their way back toward each other, the outcome of the ultimate physical showdown recedes in importance. Real victory becomes redefined from taking the top tournament prize to reconciling three men who, despite everything, still love each other very much.
Rebecca Cusey is a movie critic and entertainment reporter.