Warrior

“Warrior” is the surprise tear-jerker of the year. Why such a surprise? For one, it’s called “Warrior,” which gives the immediate impression of heroic, muscle-bound manliness. Secondly, its story centres around mixed martial arts, a sport in which beefy men willingly take part in beating one another to a misshapen pulp, which of course brings us back to the manliness factor. One gets the distinct notion that it’s a testosterone-fuelled man-movie, so imagine my shock when I found myself battling away tears in the film‘s second half; this, I must admit, was a battle I lost.

The film, which is co-written and directed by Gavin O’Connor (“Pride and Glory”), is a mishmash of sports action and family melodrama. As such, one is reminded of David O. Russell’s “The Fighter,” which tread similar ground last year, and did it quite well. However, “Warrior” manages to better “The Fighter” in both areas; the sports action and the family melodrama are handled much more effectively, working together to successfully reduce you to a blubbering blob weeping on the floor.

We are presented with two protagonists and a prominent supporting character. Our two protagonists are brothers; one is Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton, “Legend of the Guardians”) and the other is Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”). The prominent supporting character is their father, Paddy (Nick Nolte, “Tropic Thunder”).

They are what you might call a broken family. Paddy is a recovering alcoholic (his 1,000th day of sobriety is coming up) who hasn’t spoken to his two sons in years. Brendan and Tommy have also not spoken in years; they barely exist to each other, though what they do share is a bitterness towards their father, as well as skills in the world of mixed martial arts.

Having been serving in the Marines, a haunted Tommy drops by his father’s house without warning one night. He has decided he wants to get back into fighting for a living, and asks for his father to be his trainer and nothing more; he doesn’t want a father-son relationship, just a fighter-trainer relationship. Paddy agrees, and they begin hitting the gym together.

Meanwhile, Brendan struggles to support his family with his job as a public school teacher. After deciding to fight in an amateur mixed martial arts contest one night, word begins to spread about his antics and he is suspended by the school without pay. Desperate for money and realising he’s still got some fighting juice left in him, Brendan ventures into the same competition Tommy enters; the man left standing at the end gets $5 million.

“Warrior” may go through every sports movie cliché in the book, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t go through them incredibly well. It builds up momentum in each fight; every brawl is tense, exciting and emotional even though we know the result of each one; well, all except the climactic brawl, in which we wish for both fighters to win.

It’s a very emotional film, both inside the ring (or cage, I guess) and outside of it. This is a result of the three central acting performances, which are some of the most effective examples of film acting I’ve seen in recent years. Hardy, Edgerton and Nolte create such real and convincing characters that being drawn into them and their story is unavoidable.

Edgerton plays a kind-hearted family man who’s clinging onto and revisiting a past life of fighting and winning, despite his loving wife’s protestations. Hardy plays a man troubled by bad memories, a man angry and unforgiving, a man who hates his father, hates his brother and in all likelihood hates himself, though a softer side lies buried underneath this impenetrable shell. And Nolte plays a man crippled with regret, and who is trying to bring he and his two sons back together again to no avail.

These are powerful performances of characters that are written and developed without any notable fault. Hardy, Edgerton and Nolte make them so endearing and captivating that the film itself becomes endearing and captivating. At several points throughout the film you will find yourself wishing to either stand up and cheer or whimper and cry -- possibly both at the same time -- and it’s all down to these three excellent performances by these three excellent actors.

“Warrior” is a cinematic experience that is both emotional and exhilarating in equal measure. It will make you weep and it will get your heart racing in excitement. It will depress you and it will thrill you. It’s a wonderful addition to the sports genre that’s flawlessly acted, excellently written, superbly directed and refreshingly emotive. And if you find yourselves crying, you manly men out there, don’t feel ashamed; I cried thrice.

10/10