‘Warrior’ is a winner

September 9, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Film is the ‘Rocky’ of mixed martial arts

Orlando Sentinel

One brother’s a schoolteacher who struggles to keep home and family together in hard economic times.

The other’s a brooding brute, home from the war, living with his long-estranged father.

Both grown men have daddy issues, issues hinted at in bitter, perfunctory conversations between the brute and his recovering alcoholic of a father.

“No more women for me,” the old man confesses.

“Must be hard to find a girl who can take a punch these days,” the son spits back.

There’s history here — hard fought, hard-bitten history. Dad, Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte), is a man of principles, a former wreck looking for redemption. And his boys, Brendan the teacher (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy (Tom Hardy) — two fighters once trained by Paddy — aren’t giving it.

“Warrior” is a straight genre picture, a fight movie of the old school. But it’s a mixed martial arts tale, and as such, it’s the best MMA movie ever. A bare-fisted sports thriller with lots of Hollywood melodrama, “Warrior” pits these two brothers on a collision course with destiny, in the ring. Poland, Ohio, resident Jeff Hochendoner has a role in the film as military policeman who is pursuing one of the brothers.

Co-writer and director Gavin O’Connor (“Miracle”) is on sure ground with the battling Conlons, mixing loads of personal crises into a standard issue sports drama. Brendan needs money to keep paying the mortgage, but fighting gets him into trouble with the school district. Tommy, a Marine of few words and much rage, just needs to fight.

The film’s sports-movie journey takes us to the big winner-take-all tourney that both men enter, each with a need to win. That destination is entertaining, but it is the journey and the people who take it that recommend this fine film.

Nolte’s Paddy is devoted to self-help, listening to “Moby Dick” on tape, resolving to train Tommy the old way to get him ready for his bouts. The son isn’t having it. Nolte plays the toughness as a memory; the guilt and wounds Paddy carries are his new persona. And Hardy, the next “Dark Knight” villain, is a ferocious figure on screen every time out (the British prison bio-drama “Bronson” was his break-out performance). He plays every moment with a chip on his shoulder.

“Warrior” is the first movie built around this relatively new sport to capture the grit, guts heart and pathos of the great boxing pictures. It may not be MMA’s “Raging Bull,” but it’s good enough to compare to “Rocky” or “Body and Soul” and not embarrass itself or its sport.