Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing sport in the world, well according to them it is, I’ve been a fan for nearly 5 years now and I think they’re right. Now that a big Hollywood (ish...) movie featuring the sport has been released it’s hard not to agree.
Warrior gives MMA what the Rocky movies did for Boxing, not that Boxing needed the Rocky movies but they certainly helped put the sport into more homes, that’s what Warrior will do for MMA, and like the Rocky movies (well…1, 2 & 4) it is a cracking film.
The film takes place mainly in Pittsburgh, Tommy (Tom Hardy) goes home to visit his ex alcoholic Father (Nick Nolte) after a stint with the Marines in the Middle East, his brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a high school physics teacher and lives across town with his wife and children battling against bankruptcy. To say they have family issues would be a huge understatement, the films main drive is the huge fracture between the 3 men. A very depressing childhood gives our main characters their emotions and conflict that make this not an MMA film, but a drama that uses MMA as its stage. It isn’t just their family issues that drive the film, they each have their own demons and problems too, this film is so emotionally supercharged.
I won’t go into Spoilers like my friend on this blog likes to do but both Brothers end up in the biggest MMA Grand Prix tournament ever in Atlantic City and of course they are headed towards each other in a blockbuster finale, if you’ve seen the trailers this isn’t news to you.
Few things stand out in this movie for me, as I said I am a huge fan of MMA, the sport is very well represented, unlike Boxing in the Rocky movies (The Fighter on the other hand does a great job, but I digress…). We are shown a variety of techniques that you would find in any MMA fight. Tommy likes to Box and Wrestle whereas Brendan is a BJJ submission specialist, the moves are very well done and you can see that they had some top MMA guys helping out. The film has also borrowed the UFC model of production and the cage is very much inspired by the UFC’s Octagon. There are some very good cameos from the world of MMA; Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson makes an appearance as does Nate Marquardt. However, the best cameo comes from Kurt Angle who plays the elite mute Russian fighter Koba (an obvious nod to MMA legend Fedor).
Warrior has corn a’ plenty, it also has great acting, great action and pacing. I went into the film expecting to like it and I walked out feeling that way, I was not disappointed and the last scene really does finish the film off perfectly. Tom Hardy is fast becoming a Hollywood star and one of the main reasons I was interested in this film. Seeing how he acts and looks as a bulked up aggressive force due to him being cast as Bane for next years Batman 3. I expect more Batfans did the same and all I can say is he’s performance added to my hype for that movie as he is an absolute BEAST, basically Batman is screwed.
7.5/10
R
No comments:
Post a Comment