Warrior Review
It's very rare that a film makes me feel true emotion. That makes me sound like a pretty cold person but its true, I mean there have been a few (oddly largely from Pixar) but they are few and far between. This is one of those films...a film about people punching each other in the face really hard.
Alright that may be a bit of a simplification. This is a film about fighting, specifically the brutal sport of UFC or MMA or something brutal, I obviously didn't pay enough attention to the details, but it isn't about just that. The film throws almost every single cliche in the book at you. Warring brothers, dysfunctional Dad on the road to recovery, big bad Russians (little Rocky 4 homage I assume), financially struggling families, alcoholism and a relatively obvious finale.
I should probably dislike the film then bec....wait its my favourite film of 2011? Say whaaaat? So why would I love a film that is so cliched? I'll tell you because you asked so nicely, because it deals with all these cliches better than I've seen it done in any other film. It takes unoriginal ideas and makes them wholly its own. As Picasso said "Good artists borrow, great artists steal" and the makers of this film definitely stole a little bit off Rocky, but it manages to have the feel and content of a completely different film.
It helps that all the actors bring their A-game. The two leads give very convincing American blue collar accents seeing as one of them is Australian and the other is English and they must have trained immensely for the role because the action is brutal, like wincingly so. When someone gets punched in the face, it looks like they are getting punched in the face.
Hardy especially gets reps for his part in the film, he is an absolute powerhouse, both physically and actingly; his shoulders even have shoulders. He delivers such a great combination of power and vulnerability that most actors would not be able to pull off. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who could tear your head off using his little finger. Joel Edgerton also plays his best role to date and has been criminally overlooked in the promotions as has Nick Nolte (who chose the right film to come back to) seeing as everyone is focusing on Hardy's performance.
I genuinely can't place why I loved this film so much. The story is deep without being convoluted and never tells you exactly what's going on, you have to figure out some stuff by the way people act towards each other which I think works extremely well where everyone acts as well as this. It builds up to quite an epic finale that says more about family and enduring love than most films (I'm looking at you Cheaper By The Dozen) and also has a brilliant song by the National that's perfectly entwined. By the time it get's to the obvious brother finale you may already know who's going to win but to be honest, its so good it doesn't matter.
This is getting my first 10 out of 10 for a movie. Big call this but if you like Rocky (who doesn't like Rocky?) or good films about people or Tom Hardy's abs then definitely go grab this film.
Alright that may be a bit of a simplification. This is a film about fighting, specifically the brutal sport of UFC or MMA or something brutal, I obviously didn't pay enough attention to the details, but it isn't about just that. The film throws almost every single cliche in the book at you. Warring brothers, dysfunctional Dad on the road to recovery, big bad Russians (little Rocky 4 homage I assume), financially struggling families, alcoholism and a relatively obvious finale.
I should probably dislike the film then bec....wait its my favourite film of 2011? Say whaaaat? So why would I love a film that is so cliched? I'll tell you because you asked so nicely, because it deals with all these cliches better than I've seen it done in any other film. It takes unoriginal ideas and makes them wholly its own. As Picasso said "Good artists borrow, great artists steal" and the makers of this film definitely stole a little bit off Rocky, but it manages to have the feel and content of a completely different film.
It helps that all the actors bring their A-game. The two leads give very convincing American blue collar accents seeing as one of them is Australian and the other is English and they must have trained immensely for the role because the action is brutal, like wincingly so. When someone gets punched in the face, it looks like they are getting punched in the face.
Hardy especially gets reps for his part in the film, he is an absolute powerhouse, both physically and actingly; his shoulders even have shoulders. He delivers such a great combination of power and vulnerability that most actors would not be able to pull off. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who could tear your head off using his little finger. Joel Edgerton also plays his best role to date and has been criminally overlooked in the promotions as has Nick Nolte (who chose the right film to come back to) seeing as everyone is focusing on Hardy's performance.
I genuinely can't place why I loved this film so much. The story is deep without being convoluted and never tells you exactly what's going on, you have to figure out some stuff by the way people act towards each other which I think works extremely well where everyone acts as well as this. It builds up to quite an epic finale that says more about family and enduring love than most films (I'm looking at you Cheaper By The Dozen) and also has a brilliant song by the National that's perfectly entwined. By the time it get's to the obvious brother finale you may already know who's going to win but to be honest, its so good it doesn't matter.
This is getting my first 10 out of 10 for a movie. Big call this but if you like Rocky (who doesn't like Rocky?) or good films about people or Tom Hardy's abs then definitely go grab this film.