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Warrior is not only one of the best sports movies ever, it's also one of the best movies I have personally seen in the last 20 years. This movie is a flat out masterpiece with Edgerton, Hardy, and Nick Nolte putting on acting clinics throughout the movie. Also one of the most emotional movies ever.,

I just re-watched this movie today and man not only did I cry my eyes out at like 5 different times in this movie, I realized that this is one of the rare cases where I am blown away by a movie. First things first Gavin O'Connor is one of the best directors on the planet and I have no clue why this man does not get more studio work. Even in a studio by the numbers action flick like The Accountant he makes you care for Ben Affleck's character and then when you get the twist in the end that scene makes your heart break for both of the characters in the end.

He does the same thing in Warrior. He creates sympathetic characters out of people that you're told to root for in the movie. Nick Nolte's character Paddy was an abusive alcoholic who abused his wife to the point she had to break up her family and live in filth, but the O'Connor and Nolte craft a character that you care about and feel for. You genuinely want him to have closure with his sons. Tom Hardy's character on the surface seems like a dick, but Hardy and O'Connor layer the character so well. Hardy is magnificent in this movie and any other actor would make this character an annoying jerk, but you can see the pain in Tommy's eyes when he confront his father and brother for the first time and see that in the end he's still that young child who is lost.

I can't recommenced this movie enough to people who haven't seen it. The movie is outstanding. The acting is beyond Oscar level and it's a travesty Hardy and Nolte didn't win Oscars for this movie, the fight sequences are outstanding and capture MMA beautifully, and the film is so real and the drama is played up so well that I guarantee you will cry at least once during this movie.

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We want them both to win

“Warrior” is a fight picture that arrives with perfect logic at a climax involving not one but three key bouts, and we forgive the coincidence that provides not one protagonist but two. The screenplay uses these devices to combine the structure of a rags-to-riches fighting story not unlike “ Rocky ” with the rich, seamy drama of a troubled family.

In an hour of scenes that establish them separately, we meet two brothers, Brendan and Tommy Conlon ( Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy ). Brendan is a high school science teacher, married with children. Tommy is a Marine who served in the Middle East. They were wrestlers or boxers in high school, trained by their father, Paddy ( Nick Nolte ). Now the circumstances of life, however, bring them independently to the same decision: They need to fight to make a living.

Once this premise is clear, it is as certain as night follows day that Brendan and Tommy will meet in the ring for the championship. That accounts for the three climactic rounds, because each has to advance through a semifinal. What is intriguing is that “Warrior” doesn’t have a favorite. We understand and like both characters, and so does the film. Director and co-writer Gavin O'Connor arrives at that standoff by playing fair: Both have motives, they are long estranged after an unhappy split in childhood, and in some ways, they hate each other.

When their mother left their alcoholic father, it was Tommy who went with her to California and watched her die. It was Brendan who stayed with his dad. When we meet Paddy in the film, he is approaching Day 1,000 of sobriety after a lifetime of drinking, and embodies, as only Nick Nolte can, the shaggy, weathered heroism of a man who is trying one more time to pull himself together.

Tommy always blamed Paddy for abandoning his mother, although it wasn’t that simple. Now he turns up in South Philadelphia after many years, fresh from the war, keeping a secret. He asks the old man to be his trainer for a mixed martial arts championship. Neither one has the slightest idea Brendan might be involved. Meanwhile, Brendan faces foreclosure on his house, but when he wins the purse at a low-level MMA fight held in a tent in a parking lot, things get worse because he’s fired from his job.

Mixed martial arts is a sport that perplexes me. I never quite understand how any of the fighters stay conscious for even one round. Hitting, butting, kicking, tripping and slamming are all part of the game, and I may be naive, but it all looks real to me. The punishment the fighters take is so severe that it strains credulity that the final matches are held during such a small time frame.

The fight scenes are choreographed and filmed with great energy and probably too much queasy-cam. Although the fighters must duck and weave, why must the camera? Various subplots, including Paddy’s, Brendan’s wife ( Jennifer Morrison ) and his trainer ( Frank Grillo ), are intercut with the action, and although Gavin O’Connor is not shy about exploiting action, he uses the full force of strong characters to give it more meaning than action alone could supply.

This is a rare fight movie in which we don’t want to see either fighter lose. That brings such complexity to the final showdown that hardly anything could top it — but something does, and “Warrior” earns it.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Jennifer Morrison as Tess
• Kurt Angle as Koba
• Joel Edgerton as Brendan
• Nick Nolte as Paddy
• Maximiliano Hernandez as Colt
• Tom Hardy as Tommy
• Kevin Dunn as Principal Zito
• Vanessa Martinez as Pilar
• Frank Grillo as Frank
• O’Connor

Directed by

• Gavin O’Connor

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Warrior: film review.

Director Gavin O'Connor's emotionally raw family drama stars Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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With a fractured nuclear family that Eugene O’Neill would embrace and electrifying fight scenes in the not-quite-mainstream sport of mixed martial arts, Gavin O’Connor ’s Warrior makes for a sturdy, visceral entertainment. It’s a long movie that feels short: It grabs you in early scenes, intense though low-key before all hell breaks loose, then keeps you riveted to its mostly male characters — a father, two sons, a trainer and, yes, a wife who gets left out of key decisions — as members of a blue-collar family head for a winner-takes-all tournament in Atlantic City.

Each role is a meaty one for the movie’s highly watchable actors while O’Connor’s crew, especially cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi and no less than four editors, has carefully constructed an atmosphere in which the implausible might flourish.

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Superior to last year lionized The Fighter , Warrior may go several rounds starting in early September. Lionsgate needs to put some muscle into its marketing campaign though, and word of mouth will have to energize the fight film’s male demographic.

O’Connor, who previously helmed the sports movie Miracle , about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, and Pride and Glory , a multi-generational police family saga, more or less combines these themes within two sets of highly contrasted worlds. There is the darkly shot, working-class neighborhoods of Pittsburgh where a despised pater familias , Paddy Conlon ( Nick Nolte ), sober for nearly 1,000 days following a lifetime of drunken abuse, hangs out, and the sunny suburbs where his high school teacher-son, Brendan ( Joel Edgerton ), lives with his wife Tess ( Jennifer Morrison ) and two youngsters.

A further contrast comes from that city’s sweaty, dirty gyms and a temporary tent in a strip joint parking lot where local punks beat each other into raw meat versus a “World Series” of mixed martial arts staged within the neon glitz of Atlantic City.

The movie begins in Pittsburgh where a wary ceasefire between Paddy and his son’s family, with everyone refusing to acknowledge the other’s existence, gets disrupted by the abrupt re-appearance of Brendan’s brother, Tommy ( Tom Hardy ). He is a ghost from the dead as no one has seen him in 14 years.

A back story gradually materializes: Neither brother could stand their dad but Tommy chose to head west with their mother, where she died a painful death from cancer, while Brendan opted to stay in Pittsburgh to be near his sweetheart, whom he eventually married.

Tommy resents his brother’s “betrayal” almost as much as he does his father’s abuse but, oddly, it’s his father he chooses to look up: Once a talented amateur wrestler trained by his dad, Tommy wants the old man to train him once again so he can enter the mixed martial-arts event.

In a coincidence, of which the film abounds, Brendan also wants to enter that contest as his house is headed for foreclosure and he sees no other option. So the brothers are on a collision course, and the film blithely assumes one can willy-nilly enter this contest despite having no recent experience.

A video showing Tommy taking apart a champion while sparing gets posted on the Internet, which partially explains why Tommy is able to enter the tournament. This is the same video that leads to the revelation of Tommy’s heroic rescue of fellow Marines while stationed in Iraq, which makes this dark-horse combatant a popular favorite.

O’Connor and fellow writers Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman concentrate on their characters, giving you enough information but leaving plenty of room for these most capable actors to fill in the idiosyncratic derails.

Surly and brooding about wrongs, real and imagined, Hardy’s thickly muscled, highly tattooed ex-soldier is a ticking bomb. Emotionally, he is in a permanent fighter’s crouch, in constant vigilance for the next punch fate will throw his way while looking to do damage to any and all foes.

Edgerton is a more nuanced character. Backed into a corner financially, he has no choice, or at least thinks he doesn’t, but to fight. His childhood has taught him the need of a strong family so he pores his affection and devotion into his own. Yet, shades of his dad, his decision to re-enter the ring is a selfish one that he shares with his wife only after he’s made it.

Like many ex-alkies, Nolte’s Paddy wraps himself in blandness as a kind of disguise. He’s hiding from his former self, even to the point that Tommy says, more than once, he prefers the drunk to this dull and weak person.

The “normal” characters in the screenplay help to balance the three Old Testament types. This would include Frank Grillo , who plays Brendan’s trainer, dubious about his client but too much of a friend to say no, and Morrison as the wife whom the script shortchanges. The voice of reason is too muted here.

For the footage of extended fights over a two-day tournament, whether shooting from the rafters or up close in the feral ring itself, Takayanagi’s cameras dart and weave just like fighters. Sometimes they may even miss a punch and instead come to rest on an anxious corner man or a screaming face in the crowd. The excitement of these matches is brilliantly captured, almost horrifyingly so. Did a chiropractor invent this sport? Being slammed on your back or neck repeatedly is a tough way to earn a buck — or even five million.

For an “entertainment,” Warrior accomplishes a lot. The family drama resonates strongly with a resolution that, in retrospect, seems like the only way the brothers could have rediscovered blood ties. Meanwhile their fights are downright compelling. Instead of interrupting the drama, the story continues in the ring as the two fighters drag a lifetime of emotional torment in with them. They’re fighting their demons as much as their opponents. Warrior is one of the few fight films in which winning or losing is not the key factor.

Opens: Friday, Sept. 9 (Lionsgate) Production companies: Lionsgate and Mimran Schur Pictures present a Lionsgate / Mimran Schur Pictures, Solaris Entertainment and Filmtribe production. Cast: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Nick Nolte, Denzel Whitaker, Bryan Callen, Kevin Dunn Director: Gavin O’Connor Screenwriters: Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis, Cliff Dorfman Story by: Gavin O’Connor, Cliff Dorfman Producer: Gavin O’Connor, Greg O’Connor Executive producer: Michael Paseornek, Lisa Ellzey, David Mimran, Jordan Schur, John J. Kelly Director of photography: Masanobu Takayanagi Production designer: Don Leigh Music: Mark Isham Costume designer: Abigail Murray Editor: John Gilroy, Sean Albertson, Matt Cheesé, Aaron Marshall PG-13 rating, 139 minutes

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Warrior Reviews

These stars deliver the goods in abundance, even if audiences must suffer through some obligatory training montages to get it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 8, 2023

The MMA action is bone-jarring and brutal and you can feel each punch and kick. But at it’s core this is a brilliant and heartfelt character study brought to life by some strong acting and a rock solid script.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 21, 2022

The journey the characters take to get there sucks you in and melts the inherent predictability away.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 8, 2022

While most would simply write off a movie about two brothers fighting for a cash prize in an MMA tournament as direct-to-DVD piffle, Warrior pummels any negative expectations by putting on a gut-wrenching thumper of a show.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2022

Through a few powerhouse performances, Warrior shows how tough it is to break the strong family bond even when family members are estranged.

Full Review | Sep 9, 2021

A hidden gem. One of the greatest sports films of all time. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 2, 2021

Instead of one person's journey to redemption, you have a pair of brothers. Two underdog stories for the price of one.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 5, 2020

The film is a triumph if you can get past the premise. I did. And I feel I'm the better for it. I genuinely hope you can get past the stretch of a premise, too...

Full Review | Apr 1, 2020

A great movie about family... forgiveness and how we reinvent ourselves.

Full Review | Jun 28, 2019

Warrior has the occasional cheesiness that often comes with the underdog-fighter-film territory. However, it also has actors who believe in their characters and filmmakers who believe in their fights, a combination that makes it worth seeing.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 8, 2019

Edgerton and Hardy both deliver performances worthy of such immediate and unfettered adoration, bulking up characters that must've been thin on the page with an authentic grit that allows for a little movie star charisma to sneak in.

Full Review | Jan 9, 2019

Warrior does an excellent job... of exploring what men want and expect out of family life. And its stars do an even better job of bringing those needs to life.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 8, 2019

With lesser actors involved, this could have been an average yet entertaining sports movie. However, the cast of heavyweights just about mange to redeem the faults in the narrative.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 1, 2018

Warrior has two Rocky's. Tommy and Brendan are well written and well-rounded movie characters... whom the audience is rooting for in equal but different ways.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2018

The intense fighting takes the sappiness out of what turns out to be a very moving film.

Full Review | Mar 22, 2018

There's very little in this film that you haven't already seen in other boxing films, but O'Connor and his cast and crew really put together a sports drama that's every bit as gripping as Rocky, and they manage to do so within the bounds of a PG-13 film.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 16, 2018

'Warrior' is secondarily a movie about the world's fastest growing sport, MMA. If you like the fight game, this movie will have you yelling and jumping out of your seat.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 15, 2016

When most popcorn flicks wear their preposterousness on their sleeve, here's a rare one that can, even should convince you it's smart, heartfelt, real-world-grounded entertainment while still requiring a massive suspension of disbelief.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2016

A movie that engages the viewer and gets his heart racing. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Mar 16, 2016

"Warrior" is basically an action flick for chicks. You would not believe the amount of melodrama.

Full Review | Oct 7, 2015

An improbably effective and affecting mix of raw emotions and exciting smackdowns.

By Joe Leydon

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An improbably effective and affecting mix of raw emotions and exciting smackdowns, “ Warrior ” shapes up as a pic with the potential to appeal to critics and audiences alike. Lionsgate faces the formidable challenge of convincing potential ticketbuyers that there’s as much heart and soul as blood and thunder in this sharply observed drama involving long-estranged brothers destined to compete in a high-stakes, winner-take-all mixed martial arts tournament. But savvy marketing — along with upbeat reviews and word-of-mouth raves — could push the pic toward scoring a four-quadrant knockout.

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Working from a script he co-wrote with Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman, helmer Gavin O’Connor (who dealt with the slightly less violent sport of hockey in 2004’s “Miracle”) spends much of the first hour methodically revealing backstories and defining current circumstances for the three lead characters, interrupting the drama every so often for a scene in which a character kicks, punches or otherwise pummels someone else in a MMA -style match-up. During the early going, however, there’s appreciably more attention paid to action outside the ring.

Popular on Variety

An Iraq War veteran, Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) returns home to Philadelphia after a 14-year absence and pays a surprise visit to his dad, Paddy (Nick Nolte), a recovering alcoholic who’s anxiously approaching his thousandth day of sobriety. It’s not exactly a warm reunion: Tommy, wielding scorn and sarcasm like blunt instruments, all too vividly recalls having to go on the run with his now-deceased mom years earlier to escape Paddy’s booze-fueled brutality. But even back in the bad old days, Paddy was an adept wrestling coach, and Tommy benefited from his tutelage. Now the prodigal son wants his father to help him prepare for Sparta, an MMA event with a $5 million purse.

Paddy, deeply ashamed of past sins and desperate to reconnect with Tommy, agrees to be his son’s trainer, stoically accepting Tommy’s repeated recriminations and humiliations as a kind of penance.

Even as father and son get ready to rumble, however, Tommy’s older brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), begins his own journey to Sparta. Brendan, who put aside many of his dreams when Tommy and their mom departed, also seeks aid from a former mentor — an MMA trainer (Frank Grillo) who uses Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as an unlikely practice tool — after the discovery that he’s been participating in underground bouts gets him suspended from his high-school teaching job.

O’Connor adroitly sustains an air of kitchen-sink realism throughout the first half of “Warrior,” precisely and persuasively describing the socioeconomic specifics of his characters’ day-to-day lives. More importantly, O’Connor elicits such powerful performances from his three leads — and gets such first-rate work from supporting players Grillo and Jennifer Morrison, playing Brendan’s childhood sweetheart — that he keeps the drama grippingly focused despite the fuzziness of a few plot details.

Occasionally recalling the bruised and brooding virility of a young Marlon Brando, Hardy is arrestingly intense as Tommy, by turns implosive and explosive as he alternates between guilt and rage, savagery and self-loathing. In perfect counterpoint, Edgerton winningly portrays Brendan as a sensitive and passionate man who must dredge up inner furies — and feed on mounting desperation — to emerge victorious in his MMA battles.

To their considerable credit, O’Connor and his co-scripters generate virtually equal sympathy for each brother, coming up with an emotionally and dramatically satisfying payoff for their climactic cage match.

Nolte’s heartfelt and fearless performance as the anguished Paddy — a man whose self-abnegation is such that he no longer feels entitled to express anger — ranks with the veteran actor’s finest work. Still, some auds may feel frustrated by the pic’s evasiveness after planting strong hints (most notably, Paddy’s obsessive interest in “Moby Dick”) that the character may be haunted by even worse sins in his past.

Most of the second half of “Warrior” is devoted to the Sparta tournament in an aggressively gaudy Atlantic City, as the mano-a-mano mayhem threatens to overshadow the dramatic interactions between the bouts. (Just how extreme are these battles? According to the credits, even the stunt doubles required a double.) Lenser Masanobu Takayanagi joins forces with editors John Gilroy, Sean Albertson, Matt Chesse and Aaron Marshall to make the fight scenes — skillfully choreographed by JJ “Loco” Perry — more than believable enough to make viewers wince or cheer exactly when they’re supposed to.

But the production values are every bit as impressive during the deliberately drab and dreary scenes in Philadelphia. That’s where “Warrior” patiently lays the groundwork for its consistently compelling narrative, preparing auds for an ending that just might move some strong men to tears.

• Production: A Lionsgate release presented with Mimran Schur Pictures of a Lionsgate/Mimran Schur Pictures production in association with Solaris Entertainment and Filmtribe. Produced by Gavin O'Connor, Greg O'Connor. Executive producers, Michael Paseornek, Lisa Ellzey, David Mimran, Jordan Schur, John J. Kelly. Co-producers, Anthony Tambakis, Jamie Marshall, Josh Fagin. Directed by Gavin O'Connor. Screenplay, O'Connor, Anthony Tambakis, Cliff Dorfman; story, O'Connor, Dorfman.
• Crew: Camera (Deluxe color), Masanobu Takayanagi; editors, John Gilroy, Sean Albertson, Matt Chesse, Aaron Marshall; music, Mark Isham; music supervisor, Brian Ross: production designer, Dan Leigh; art director, James Donahue; set decorator, Ron von Blomberg; costume designer, Abigail Murray; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), Peter J. Devlin, Glen Trew; re-recording mixers, Gary Summers, Christian P. Minkler; stunt coordinator/fight choreographer, JJ "Loco" Perry; assistant director, Jamie Marshall; casting, Randi Hiller. Reviewed at Edwards Marq*E Stadium 23, Houston, Aug. 3, 2011. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 139 MIN.
• With: Brendan Conlon - Joel Edgerton Tommy Conlon - Tom Hardy Paddy Conlon - Nick Nolte Tess Conlon - Jennifer Morrison Frank Campana - Frank Grillo Principal Zito - Kevin Dunn Colt Boyd - Maximiliano Hernandez Bryan Callen - Himself Sam Sheridan - Himself Pilar Fernandez - Vanessa Martinez Koba - Kurt Angle Pete "Mad Dog" Grimes - Erik Apple

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The Warrior

Details: 2001, Rest of the world, UK, Cert 12, 90 mins

Direction: Asif Kapadia

Summary: A warrior is struck by remorse when ordered to attack defenceless villagers, but his master sends another warrior to kill him

With: Irfan Khan ,  Mandakini Goswami and Puru Chhibber

Peter Bradshaw

Peter Bradshaw: There is a mighty breadth to the movie's conception, a shimmering beauty to Roman Osin's cinematography and the location work, something calm and seductively mysterious in the scenes and sequences that Kapadia conjures up, and also plenty of old-fashioned storytelling gusto.

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Next week, the biggest celebration of Asian cinema the UK has ever seen begins with a screening of Asif Kapadia's debut feature film, The Warrior. Here he charts the film's three-year course from script to screen

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'Warrior' review

Warrior is a contrived and predictable movie that's largely bereft of original elements. It also happens to be one of the more engrossing and exciting experiences you can enjoy in a cinema this year. Potent and emotive lead turns by Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton extend a vice-like grip on your senses, while Nick Nolte's devastatingly powerful supporting role is Oscar worthy.

The story, unashamedly resplendent with action flick clichés and preposterous coincidences, involves haunted soldier Tommy (Hardy) returning to the world of mixed martial arts after a fourteen year absence. A big tournament is around the corner and he enlists the help of his estranged father Paddy (Nolte) to help him train.

There's one massive obstacle though - Tommy despises the former alchie's guts for his shambolic treatment of his mother. Slightly lower down on his Hate List is his brother Brendan, who failed to follow Tommy and his mother when they fled to escape the abuse. A former fighter himself, Brendan has turned to teaching in a high school - but his family is plunged into financial turmoil and he is compelled to enter the same tournament as his bro for big cash prize monies.

Can you figure out what happens next?

Regardless of the unsurprising manner in which the plot unfolds, the raw emotion and primal masculinity depicted is relentlessly absorbing and culminates in a thrilling climax that tugs at the heartstrings. The central theme of the broken family is relentlessly channeled through the brooding performances of Hardy and Edgerton, who both exude layers of hurt and longing beneath their formidable brawn.

As the estranged father of the wrangling siblings, Nick Nolte lends a ferocious, animalistic edge to the man who possessed an immense cruel streak towards his supposed nearest and dearest. That loathsome characteristic bubbles away beneath the exterior of a sorrowful man wrapped in a world of self-hatred and self-pity, trying to right the wrongs he cannot fully address.

In a movie full of brawling, the most extreme brutality lies in the psychological blows traded between father and son, as exemplified by Nolte's knockout two-hander scenes with Hardy. Yet the triumphant human spirit that shines through, well harnessed by Gavin O'Connor's intense direction, is somewhat euphoric to watch unfold.

Combining the bravura of Rocky with fragments of the social/psychological decrepitude of The Wrestler , Warrior is a superbly orchestrated movie that works as both a study of masculinity, a family drama and a cracking popcorn flick in which sweaty blokes pummel the living daylights out of each other. With positives like this, who cares about the flaws?

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