WARRIOR (2011)

cast: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morisson, Kevin Dunn

Directed by Gavin O’ Connor

Distributed by Lionsgate

release date: September 09,  2011

running time: 2 hr 19 mins

IMDB     Rotten Tomatoes

What if you could throw in all the melodrama and all that family tension seen in The Fighter and combine it with pulsating action of Rocky? I think you will truly find out when you check out Warrior that opens this fall.

Gavin Connor’s follow up to Miracle and Pride and Glory is a mixed martial arts mash em up that promises to leave an impact who is looking for a solid  ‘fight movie’ list of yours.

Haunted by a tragic past, Marine Tommy Conlon (Hardy) returns home for the first time in fourteen years to enlist the help of his father (Nick Nolte) to train for Sparta, the biggest winner-takes-all event in mixed martial arts history. A former wrestling prodigy, Tommy blazes a path toward the championship while his brother, Brendan (Edgerton), an ex-fighter-turned teacher, returns to the ring in a desperate bid to save his family from financial ruin. But when Brendan's unlikely, underdog rise sets him on a collision course with the unstoppable Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront each other and the forces that pulled them apart, facing off in the most soaring, soul stirring, and unforgettable climax that must be seen to be believed. 

 THE PANEL ROOM

   

Warrior relies on many of the clichés that critics of the genre love to mock -- and it transcends them with gripping action, powerful acting, and hear. ROTTENTOMATOES  7.4/10

This is a rare fight movie in which we don't want to see either fighter lose. . Roger Ebert  3 /4

It’s a cinematic sucker punch, sure, but one that hits home.   Frank Sweitek   B

Warrior is a relentless, emotionally engaging family drama and underdog saga with touches of Rocky mixed with The Fighter. Claudia Puig 3 /4

Every time you start resisting, somehow the film makes the sale, again. Michael Phillips 2.5 /4