Warrior is not just another sports movie, according to the reviews coming in for the film, which will open in theaters Friday, September 6.
Directed by Gavin O’Connor (Miracle), the film about two struggling brothers training for a mixed martial arts championship, is about much more than sports, due mostly to the outstanding performances of Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte and Joel Edgerton.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt writes, “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.”
“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,” he writes.
“The director’s impressive technique — and all the grace and discipline of his excellent, hard-working cast — is mustered with a single, unambiguous goal in mind. This movie wants to knock you out. It will,” writes the New York Times’ A.O. Scott.
“With arresting honesty and enormous compassion — but without making a big topical deal out of it —Warrior looks at an American working class reeling from the one-two punch of war and recession,” Scott continues.
“Though the film might seem an inconsequential fight movie complete with tough guys and tattoos, it turns genre fare into a surprisingly moving father-and-sons melodrama,” wrote the AP’s Jake Coyle.
VIDEO: ‘Warrior’: Tom Hardy Spars With a Professional Fighter in New Clip
“Much of the film feels calculated and overdone: the grim industrial blight, the hooded sweatshirts, Paddy listening to Moby-Dick as an audio book.he wrote.
Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic says the film has “outstanding performances by Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte and Joel Edgerton.”
“Thanks to them, Warrior moves beyond its somewhat trite trappings,” he continues. “It’s a surprisingly moving film. While the fight scenes are unquestionably thrilling, the movie’s best bits are not about winning and losing but about pain and, ultimately, forgiveness.”
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