twenty great combat sports films to get your blood pumping • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

Warrior (2011)

Fast forward to the wake of UFC’s explosion in popularity; it only took a few years for the first truly great MMA/UFC film to arrive. “Absolutely chock full of cliches, derivative, telegraphed, and most of the backstory is rushed (despite a two-hour-plus runtime), but I’ll be damned if I could stop the man tears from flowing,” admits Alex of Warrior. It’s hard to argue with the criticisms, but he’s not wrong in his final assessment. Somehow, the film threads lunkheaded sentimentality with lithe, brute force, concocting the “ultimate“ fight picture. Anchored by an astonishing Nick Nolte as the father of the two leads played by Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy, Warrior might err towards saccharine manipulation, but there’s always a killer fight right around the corner to get you out of your seat. Action both electric and thudding, fitting right into Gavin O’Connor’s balance of tone, it’s easy to see why coordinators J.J. Perry and Sam Hargrave went on to directorial careers of their own.