The Warrior, A cinematic ride like no other.

I had the pleasure of re-watching one of my all time favorite films of all time the other day and each time it does not disappoint.  The Warrior directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte is a film that will bring you on a roller coaster of emotions whether it is making you feel like you can run through a brick wall, cry your eyes out, or be a completely feel good story.  Throughout the entire movie the eyes of any audience are glued to the screen because the movie is done so well.
Objectively the movie deserves a good rating.  The writing of this film would be an incredible book with how much detail the writers put into this plot.  Two brothers who drifted apart because of their own problems, with a father who deals with drug and alcohol problems throughout his life have all been separated after their mom (and wife in the father’s case) passes away unfortunately.  Brendan (one of the sons and Joel Edgerton) wasn’t around the family much because of he fell in love with a girl and ended up moving out of the house to marry her.  Tommy (the other son and Tom Hardy) was completely offended by this because Brendan wasn’t home while the mother was sick and he felt betrayed by his older brother who he once looked up to.  Both brothers regain their interest in fighting in Mixed Martial Arts and begin to train harder and harder, and both have miraculous events happen in which they both are able to fight in a tournament with 16 of the best fighters in the world with a winner take all tournament. The screenwriting for this film also is beyond belief.  The acting is done with such emotion and makes the audience believe they are actually their characters in the plot.  The acting was in fact so good that now whenever I see Tom Hardy or Joel Edgerton in any other film I can only think of them as Brendan Conlee and Tommy Rierdan. Also the entire movie is made as an analogy to modern day UFC cage fighting. The use of non diegetic audio in the final scene with the song “About today” by The National sets the tone of the final fight scene perfectly and will leave the audience in shivers.   Objectively the things that stands out to me the most was the camera work and the shot angles.  Some scenes are very famous pictures now and unforgettable shots.
Subjectively this movie receives a good rating as an understatement.  Growing up as a fan of the Rocky series this movie gave me the same feeling watching it as when Rocky Balboa defeated Clubber Lang for the heavyweight title of the world.  Chills are sent through my entire body and goose bumps emerge at the ending of this film every time.  When the brothers fight for the championship of a million dollars and one brother is fighting to save his and his family’s house from eviction and one brother is fighting to give all the money to one of his fallen brothers of war’s family and they end the fight walking out of the cage hugging with their now sober father watching with tears in his eyes it is a scene I will never forget and it’s the same feeling every time I watch it.  This movie if anyone decides to watch (I highly suggest if you haven’t already seen the film Mr. Rivers) will bring you on a ride no film has done before whether it be with emotion or the breathtaking story and images that will not be forgotten.
This film deserves the GOOD GOOD rating one hundred and ten percent.