Warrior (Rhoades)

“Warrior” Pits

Brother Against

Brother

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Battling Roman gladiators have their modern-day counterparts: Boxing, football, and mixed martial arts bouts.

“Warrior” – the new film slugging it out at the Tropic Cinema – takes you inside the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

Here you will meet Tom Conlon (Tom Hardy), a former Marine being trained as a fighter by his over-the-hill dad Paddy (Nick Nolte). However, this ambition puts Tommy in the ring facing his older brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a former champion making a comeback.

A phys ed teacher with an upside down mortgage, Brendan needs the money. When school administrators challenge his decision, calling professional fighters “animals,” Brendan says, “I used to be one of those animals. Guess I forgot to put that down on my application.”

There are three battles going on in “Warrior.” Paddy is fighting for the forgiveness of his sons; Tom is proving himself; and Brendan is struggling to come to terms with his two families, dad and brother versus wife and kids.

Gravelly-voiced Nolte is well cast as an alcoholic ex-boxer who tore his family apart and is preparing to do it again by pitting his sons against each other. Brit actor Hardy and Australian actor Edgerton display all the muscles and six-pack abs and tattoos you’d expect on martial arts combatants.

You’ve seen Hardy as the villain Praetor Shinson in “Star Trek Nemesis” and he’s slated to play the supervillain Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Edgerton has appeared in two “Star Wars” episodes as Anakin Skywalker’s stepbrother and he’s playing Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s remake of “The Great Gatsby.”

Nick Nolte you know from such classics as “48 Hours,” “Prince of Tides,” “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” and “Affliction.”

While there are great fight sequences in “Warrior,” it’s really a film about a dysfunctional family. But you won’t be disappointed watching these two warriors battle it out in MMA’s International Sparta Competition. The fight scenes are “Rocky” good, with muscle-bound Tom Hardy and ripped Joel Edgerton slugging it out like champions.

How did they get in such great shape? “Push the Floor” is Tom’s workout advice. That’s much better than being on the floor for the count.

srhoades@aol.com

[from Solares Hill]