Other than comedies, sports movies are probably ruined in trailers more than another other genre. Mostly that’s because sports movies are generally predictable and cheesy but, even with that caveat, the trailer for Warrior might cross the line. Directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, the film follows two brothers who simultaneously, for different reasons, enter into the world of professional mixed martial arts. Just from that sentence alone you probably can venture a very educated guess as to what the film’s climax will be but does the trailer really need to not only show it, but blatantly state it?
Despite that, Warrior looks to be a potentially entertaining story of family and sport, much in the vein of The Fighter. Peter seemed to think so when he saw the film at CinemaCon and now you can judge for yourself. Warrior, which also stars Nick Nolte, is scheduled for release on September 9.
Trailer looks good to me. Is Hardy lead or supporting? It seems to me that he's co-lead at least but it almost looks like he's just supporting in the trailer.
Trailer looks good to me. Is Hardy lead or supporting? It seems to me that he's co-lead at least but it almost looks like he's just supporting in the trailer.
Well, the wikipedia page makes it sound like Hardy is the main character, and on Edgerton's wiki, it says he's the antagonist... though it doesn't really seem like a protagonist/antagonist type of story, judging by the trailer.
I saw an advanced screening of Warrior last night.
Not sure if this will change, but Joel Edgerton seemed the star of the cut I saw. Pretty sure that he had the most screentime by a few minutes and his backstory was the most fleshed out. He's essentially the Jim Braddock (Cinderella Man) of this film. A former pedestrian UFC fighter, he's in his mid-30's working as a physics teacher at a local high school. The family faces foreclosure and to make ends meet, he begins working local MMA fights. The school finds out after a particularly rough outing and he is suspended without pay.
Edgerton's performance reminded me a lot of Patrick Swayze. His character is tough, but only to defend that which he cares about. Early character building scenes with his wife and kids and later his students go a long way in establishing him as a good man. He carries the emotional beats of the film well. Jennifer Morrison plays the standard "worried wife". A solid, if cookie cutter, role.
Tom Hardy is Edgerton's younger brother. A former junior wrestling prodigy, he left the abusive household with his mother and eventually joins the Marines. Caught in a friendly fire incident, he goes AWOL, but not before saving some otherwise doomed soldiers.
Hardy is not asked to do much at all from a character development standpoint in this film. Look intimidating, brood, and generally be emotionally disconnected outside of one scene with the widow of a fallen Marine. He's basically a caged wild animal throughout; tense and poised to strike at any given moment, both with his words and his fists. You can't take your eyes off him when he's screen, but he's just doesn't exhibit much range at all.
Nick Nolte is the estranged father. A former boxer and recovering alcoholic, Hardy shows up on his doorstep to start the film. We quickly learn Nolte was a violent drunk and abused his wife to the point that Hardy and she ran away, with her eventually dying. Nolte is absolutely let down by the script in this film. His role was literally thankless, as brothers are long estranged from him and want nothing to do with him and repeatedly state as much. Nolte is now sober, apologetic and seemingly appalled by his old behavior, but he is only called to be a whining simp as Hardy and Edgerton's character's emotionally unload on him in basically every scene they share with him. (Hardy, in particular, makes a common refrain of "I liked you better when you were a drunk. At least then, you had some balls.")
While Hardy's character makes it clear he doesn't want him as a father, he does want his services as a trainer. But aside from quick scenes of Nolte watching Hardy threw the ropes at a gym and then pacing a running Hardy in a car, we never get any sense of what is special about the training to make Hardy bother with him, given the animosity. To me, this was particularly glaring as for one, Hardy takes out a supposed middleweight title contender with ease in an early sparring season before Nolte agrees to train him and secondly, we see a LOT of Edgerton's training. Nolte character finished as he starts, alone. No real arc to his character.
There is no love lost between the brothers themselves, however. Hardy left with his mother, but Edgerton stayed with their father. Each finding fault in the other's decision, Hardy to the point of disownment. One of the most tense moments is when Edgerton calls Hardy 'brother', to which Hardy responds quizzically "Were you in the Corps? If not, you are no brother of mine."
What brings these forces together is a 16-man MMA tournament called "Sparta" with a $5 million purse. Edgerton, suspended from school, re-teams with his former trainer for the local fights at first but ultimately finds himself in the tournament as an injury replacement. Hardy is entered when video of the sparring session hits YouTube and he becomes an overnight sensation. He seeks to donate the money to the family of a comrade killed in the friendly fire. Since going AWOL he uses his mother's maiden name, thus as the tournament starts, it is not apparent to the world Edgerton and Hardy are brothers.
Each character gets a grudge match along the way, Hardy with the sparring partner he beat before, Edgerton with an unbeaten Russian sambo named Koba (played by Kurt Angle). Hardy is presented as a force of nature, Edgerton as a technican who takes pounding in route to finding openings to pull out submission wins.
I felt like the movie was well shot, the composition of certain scenes with usage of light and shadow are very well done. The action scenes are also well paced and easy to follow and the impact of blows are sufficiently conveyed particularly during the Hardy fights. However, the multitude of blows feels overdone in certain matches to the point of approaching a WWE match.
The script is what really betrays the movie. Nolte doesn't have any real arc. It feels like they threw a lot of standard boxing movie tropes all in the blender and hit puree. The film ends in a clunky manner, wanting to present both characters as 'winners', when only one truly can be. As a result, the ending did not feel emotionally honest in contrast to what came before.
Overall, worth a watch on cable, but nothing worth going out of you way to see.
If you simply want to know what happened in the final fight, as the trailer essentially gives you the crux of the movie:
Edgerton defeats Hardy by submission in 5 rounds. Having broken Hardy's shoulder in round 3 with a kimura, Edgerton is loathe to finish him despite Hardy landing a deliberate cheap shot at the end of round 1. He eventually get him in another submission in the 5th and begs Hardy to submit while saying he loves him, which is just feels awkward given the animosity between them in an earlier scene. Winning, Edgerton then assists Hardy out of the cage and back toward the locker room. Fade to black.
I'm interested in this movie but that trailer makes it look so generic. A rip-off of The Fighter is right with the music right down to how it plays out.
Quite surprised that a thread hasn't been made for Greg's lastest film 'Warrior'. The film is getting highly praised by the critics. The film stars Tom Hardy (Bronson, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises), Nick Nolte (The Hulk, Peaceful Warrior, Tropic Thunder), Joel Edgerton (Smokin' Aces, Animal Kingdom, The Thing), and Jennifer Morrison (House).
Synopsis:
A former boxer (Nick Nolte), whose alcoholism tore apart his family, welcomes back his youngest son (Tom Hardy) and trains him to compete in a mixed martial arts tournament – a path that puts the son on a collision course with his older brother (Joel Edgerton).
The film is set to be released on September 9th via Lionsgate. Trailer is located below.
It's at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and the reviews are beyond glowing.
I'm catching this on opening day. Apparently the performances are incredible especially that of Hardy and Edgerton.
So glad that Hardy is preluding TDKR with a bunch of great performances. I'm confident his performance in TDKR will be something pretty spectacular once all is said and done.
Just saw a sneak peek yesterday, I don't know what film Tamron reviewed but the movie was fantastic. I gave it a 9/10 -- one of best fighting films I've ever paid to see.
Hardy's performance was Top Tier. One of the best of 2011. While he played a character that was detached, cold and brutal, you could feel the character's pain and emotional struggles throughout the film. He was more than just some mindless caged animal ready to wreak havoc as suggested in the trailer. I really connected with the character in more ways than one (beyond the brooding and stoicism).
I can see why his performance is being praised by most of the critics. I wouldn't be shocked if he were nominated for an Academy Award.
so because every sports movie is 100% cliche we have to accept it? they can not do anything original ? i guess this is because Hardy is in a Nolan batman movie ?
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