By Andres Aguirre
“Warrior” (2011), is a movie filled with loads of emotion involving family drama and intense struggle. It begins with an older man, Paddy (Nick Nolte), leaving a church and coming home to find his son, Tommy (Tom Hardy), an ex-marine, on his doorstep. Soon after, we find out that Paddy’s wife, Tommy’s mother, passed away years prior, and they both have deep emotional trauma from not only that but much more. What happened between them is unknown, but it is obvious there is much more to the family than what is on the surface.
Next, we meet Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a high school physics teacher and Tommy’s older brother. He has a family, a wife and two daughters, and they are struggling financially. For the first part of the movie, he secretly fights in small mixed martial arts matches to get extra cash after he learns that if his family doesn’t catch up on payments they will lose their home.
One of the best scenes in the film is when Tommy is working out at a boxing gym and the “top dog” of the gym, Pete, needs another sparring partner after he destroys his current one. Tommy approaches and says he can fight him and the gym owner rejects him. He asks again after they could not find another sparring partner, and the gym owner agrees. As Tommy enters the ring with Pete, he goes in swinging right away. He surprises everyone in the gym and surpasses all of their expectations. He immediately knocks out Pete and proceeds to go about his day. This scene is good, as it showed how crazy and fearless Tommy is.
Paddy is a recovering alcoholic. In a later scene, he tries to approach his son Brendan one night. He desires to reconnect with his distant son, tells him that he is 1,000 days sober, and wants to re-enter his life. This scene is emotional as Brendan rejects his father and leaves him outside alone. Paddy then tries to reconnect with Tommy and he rejects him as well. This leaves him in a bad state of mind as he relapses and starts drinking again.
In the third act of the film, both brothers enter the biggest MMA tournament called Sparta; the prize of the tournament is $5 million. Both extremely need the money for their situations, but neither of them know that the other is in the tournament until they see each other the night before. They talk but it is obvious they both have unresolved issues that have taken a huge toll on their lives, and it seems like there is no reconciliation coming anytime soon.
As the tournament progresses, both brothers win, match after match, and have to fight each other in the grand finale. To everyone outside of the ring, it just seems like two brothers fighting and nothing else, but to the brothers and their father, it is much more than that. All the pain and emotions they have bottled up for years are finally set free during the match, and you can see in their eyes that they both want to be brothers again. This leaves you at the edge of your seat, itching to know what happens next and feeling as if you don’t want either of them to lose. After an intense fight scene, Brendan has Tommy in a chokehold and forces him to tap out. As everyone cheers, the brothers are on the ground crying as they disregard everything else but to love and forgive one another.
I can relate to this movie, as I have had issues and obstacles with my brothers throughout the years. It is definitely a roller coaster of emotions and leaves you wanting to call your family to let them know you love them. I highly recommend it to anyone; Nolte, Hardy, and Edgerton do an incredible job and deserve recognition. The theme of perseverance and family shows strongly throughout the film and encourages that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.
