Warrior Film Review

Trailer…

Movie Review



I used to box, but I wasn't very good at all, I hate to admit. I detested jumping around, especially jumping rope, but here's the thing--I was thinner then any other time. Your body does respond. Then I got married and wasn't allowed to spar any more. Not that it mattered. I only sparred three times. Two of those times was against my female kickboxing coach.


Yes, she kicked my ass.

But the experience was completely meditative. No, seriously. There's something to be said that, when you're in the ring, nothing else really matters. You had a shitty day at work? You might not want to dwell on that. That fucknut who cut in front of you in the line at Disney World? Remember, you do, technically, have the ability to kill him. However, when there’s a fist or two heading towards your head, you can’t really think about those kinds of things.


I miss boxing. I don't know if I could ever go back in my current state, really. And movies like Warriors proves that. Made by Gavin O'Conner it is, basically, a Rocky movie. I mean, seriously. His other claim to fame, Miracle, was about the American ice hockey team, a longshot in the Olympics being the underdog and kicking the asses of Soviet team.Watch one of these movies, watch them all. The only difference? This one stars two men who are slightly beyond physically fit. One of the brothers, played by the cocky Brit Tom Hardy (who is doing his best self promoting by admitting bisexuality and then denyting it for some reason)was in the military. So his deltoids get a free pass.

Kinda makes you wanna go to the gym 24/7 and give up, I dunno, EATING…

Wait...let me see him again. Okay NOW he gets a free pass.


The other, a pseudo newcomer named Joel Edgerton , I only recognized from the Star Wars Cash Cow prequels. But his pecs are in full glory here. They say the camera adds weight. This youth must look like a glorified telephone pole in reality.

Check out Joel’s Stanly Kowolski in Streetcar….

The story has the two brothers work their way up into a Mixed Martial Arts public fight for a million dollar purse. What makes this film different? Well, they didn't go with melodrama. Surely, there's enough angst to overflow a teenager's cell phone, but there's something tangible about it. A teacher with very little money (Joel’s Brenden Conlon); a man fresh from the military with nothing to achieve other than his honor (Tom’s Tommy). This plot and the accompanying writing keeps the audience interested a bit more than most.

I noticed, in today's day and age, when the poor getting poorer by the second, bloodsport, for many starving men, might be the only way out of debt in front of the plutocrats. So there's even a timeliness angle.


I'm thinking I enjoyed this movie. I came for the eye candy and was impressed.


And I know it. Being in that ring is heavy business. I merely just boxed. Getting hit, anywhere, even with training is painful and drags energy. Mixed martial arts are just as bad, if not worse. These sports require zero pads and a special kind of person. I can only imagine the kind of character a person would be required to have before doing something that painful. Did this movie capture that? With the beautifully thin physics high school teacher? No, honestly. The fact is, in an attempt to be honest and straightforward, they nixed certain realities. One here and there is a gimmie, but to the point where I found my mind wondering in the slower points. How could a teacher stay that thin without coaching something? How can a person go AWOL from the Marines and only be found when he appears on television? Such gaps made the film show up in the nadir of movies, the September release.
I do, however, feel that there is more going on here that is on the screen. I want to see all of these people do more. There’s breathing room to be had. I look forward to it.

Warrior