TMG Scale 5.5 P Factor 0.0 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Starring Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton
If you like predictable boxing movies with carcicatures of boxing caricatures named Tommy (always with fingerless gloves on and a black, cotton stocking hat) and some over acting, you may like Warrior. You may not.
Paddy Conlon (Nolte) is a recovering alcoholic and dead beat dad of Tommy (Hardy) and Brendan (Edgerton). Apparently, he trained both sons to be mixed martial arts fighters. Mixed martial arts is really boxing, wrestling, kick boxing, karate and just dirty street fighting all combined into one. It is sort of legalized cock fighting for human males. Somewhere along the line, their mother got sick and died and Tommy joined the Marines. Brendan apparently knocked up his girlfriend and ran off and started a new life. No love was lost anywhere. Tommy goes AWOL from the Marines after rescuing his buddies in a tank, but then loses most of them in a friendly fire incident. It all makes for three men with lots of pent up anger and issues. Lots of issues.
The relationship, or lack thereof, between Tommy and Brendan is not well explored or revealed. And other than dad Paddy acting like a drunk Nick Nolte, neither is that relationship well explained. There is just lots of “history.” Fortuitously, they all end up in Atlantic City at “Sparta”–the MMA world championship. Tommy and Brendan somehow repair their relationship by beating the living snot out of each other. It’s a nice fairly tale….I guess.
What was the story or point of all this? Nothing. Hardy clearly studied Rocky Balboa to work up his dumber than dirt demeanor and accent. He may deserve an award for doing a great Sly Stallone imitation. Other than that, I got virtually nothing from this movie other than some adrenaline rushed fight scenes. Having participated in martial arts for fiveyears, TMG left the theatre wanting to go back in the ring for a round or two, but I settled for a few pushups and a beer instead.
Brendan’s predictable relationship with his wife was kind of corny. Nolte played Nolte. I was impressed there was not a single male urination scene, thus the 0.0 P factor rating. The bell rang and I left.