Warrior (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
Warrior is a 2011 American sports drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Gavin O'Connor and starring Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy
Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy is an English actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the 2008 British film Bronson, the character of Eames in Inception, and the villain Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis...

, Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton is an Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Edgerton was born in Blacktown, Sydney, to a homemaker mother and a solicitor/property developer father, Michael. His brother, Nash Edgerton, is a stuntman and filmmaker...

, Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...

, Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...

, and Frank Grillo
Frank Grillo
Frank Grillo is an American actor.-Career:Grillo is perhaps best known for his role as Nick Savrinn in Season One of Prison Break. He also had roles in other television shows and movies, including Blind Justice and Battery Park...

. Warrior tells the story of two estranged brothers entering a mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 tournament, and deals the brothers' struggling relationship with each other and with their father. The film was released on September 9, 2011 to critical acclaim.

Plot synopsis

The film opens with former U.S. Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy
Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy is an English actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the 2008 British film Bronson, the character of Eames in Inception, and the villain Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis...

) visiting his father, Paddy (Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...

), a former alcoholic who has become a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

. Tommy becomes angry about his father's formerly abusive behavior, and Paddy fails to convince him that he has truly changed. The next day, Tommy enters a gym where he beats a professional fighter named Pete "Mad Dog" Grimes (Erik Apple
Erik Apple
Erik Apple is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He is currently signed with Strikeforce.-MMA career:...

) unconscious within seconds, in a fight which is filmed via video phone and later uploaded to the Internet where it goes viral
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...

. Tommy asks his father to help him train for a winner-takes-all mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 tournament called Sparta, but only under the condition that they do not try to reconcile their relationship. It is later explained that Tommy enters the tournament in order to give the money he hopes to win to the widow and son of his fallen friend in the Marine Corps.

Meanwhile, Paddy's older son, Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton is an Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Edgerton was born in Blacktown, Sydney, to a homemaker mother and a solicitor/property developer father, Michael. His brother, Nash Edgerton, is a stuntman and filmmaker...

), a high school physics teacher, is struggling to financially provide for his wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...

) and two daughters, and faces the possibility of his home getting foreclosed
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

 if he does not pay the bank in three weeks. Despite he and Tess working a total of three jobs between the two of them, Brendan risks returning to his former profession as an Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

 fighter battling amateur fighters for money in order to pay the bank in time. Rumors of Brendan fighting in the ring begin spreading amongst his students, and the school, objecting to his participation in such dangerous activities, suspends him without pay. Without knowing Tommy has done so as well, Brendan decides to also enter Sparta with his old friend Frank Campana (Frank Grillo
Frank Grillo
Frank Grillo is an American actor.-Career:Grillo is perhaps best known for his role as Nick Savrinn in Season One of Prison Break. He also had roles in other television shows and movies, including Blind Justice and Battery Park...

) as his trainer.

Paddy visits Brendan during this time to inform him that Tommy has returned home and in order to reconcile with his son, which he is unable to do. Brendan says he forgives Paddy for all the wrong he has done to him in the past, but that he still does not trust him. And later, after entering the tournament, Brendan discovers that Tommy has also entered. When Brendan confronts Tommy for the first time in several years, it is explained that Brendan eloped with Tess when he was sixteen years old and left the family, leaving Tommy to take care of his mother, who later fell ill and died, by himself. Tommy says that he refuses to forgive Brendan for this and leaves.

Meanwhile, the video of Tommy beating Mad Dog attracts the attention of a Marine in Iraq whose life was saved by Tommy months prior. The information and video of Tommy saving the Marine is shared with the press and Tommy becomes a national hero, gaining a massive fan base with not only viewers, but with the U.S. Marine Corps as well. Paddy tells Tommy that he is proud of him for saving the Marine's life, but Tommy gets so furious at his father that Paddy has a relapse
Relapse
Relapse, in relation to drug misuse, is resuming the use of a drug or a dependent substance after one or more periods of abstinence. The term is a landmark feature of both substance dependence and substance abuse, which are learned behaviors, and is maintained by neuronal adaptations that mediate...

 and becomes severely drunk the next day. Tommy comforts Paddy and the two finally make peace with one another. However, things turn around when Tommy's records surface from the Marine Corps and reveal that he took absence without leave from the military after he was nearly killed by friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...

. It is explained that Tommy took his mother's maiden name, Riordan, as his own surname in order to evade arrest for his desertion, and that police will take him into custody after the tournament is over.

Over the next few nights, Brendan and Tommy battle some of the toughest names in mixed martial arts, with Tommy usually winning by brutally knocking his opponents unconscious, and Brendan utilizing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting...

 and defeating all his opponents by submission. At the end, both brothers come face-to-face with each other in final round and unleash all anger they had towards each other. The fight between the two brothers shows Tommy having the upper hand initially, taking down Brendan and punishing him with some ground-and-pound, but in the third round, the tides turn as Brendan catches Tommy with an omoplata armlock
Armlock
An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint and/or shoulder joint. An armlock that hyperflexes or hyperrotates the shoulder joint is referred to as a shoulder lock, and an armlock that hyperextends the elbow joint is called...

. Brendan manages to accidentally dislocate Tommy's shoulder
Dislocated shoulder
A dislocated shoulder occurs when the humerus separates from the scapula at the glenohumeral joint. The shoulder joint has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body and as a result is particularly susceptible to dislocation and subluxation. Approximately half of major joint...

, leaving Tommy handicapped. The round ends, Brendan apologizes and pleads to his brother to stop fighthing. Tommy, however, continues to fight with one arm. In the next round Brendan traps the injured Tommy in a rear naked choke
Rear naked choke
The Rear naked choke is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. Depending on the context, the term may refer to one of two variations of the technique, either arm can be used to apply the choke in both cases...

. While they both lie struggling on the mat, Brendan tearfully apologizes to Tommy and tells him that he loves him, and after a brief hesitation, Tommy taps out. The film ends with the two brothers exiting the ring, Tommy in tears with Brendan's arms around him as their father watches them in tears.

Cast

  • Tom Hardy
    Tom Hardy
    Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy is an English actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the 2008 British film Bronson, the character of Eames in Inception, and the villain Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis...

     as Tommy Riordan
  • Joel Edgerton
    Joel Edgerton
    Joel Edgerton is an Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Edgerton was born in Blacktown, Sydney, to a homemaker mother and a solicitor/property developer father, Michael. His brother, Nash Edgerton, is a stuntman and filmmaker...

     as Brendan Conlon
  • Nick Nolte
    Nick Nolte
    Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...

     as Paddy Conlon
  • Jennifer Morrison
    Jennifer Morrison
    Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...

     as Tess Conlon
  • Frank Grillo
    Frank Grillo
    Frank Grillo is an American actor.-Career:Grillo is perhaps best known for his role as Nick Savrinn in Season One of Prison Break. He also had roles in other television shows and movies, including Blind Justice and Battery Park...

     as Frank Campana
  • Kurt Angle
    Kurt Angle
    Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is recognized as a 15-time World Heavyweight Champion...

     as Koba
  • Jake McLaughlin as Mark Bradford
  • Noah Emmerich
    Noah Emmerich
    Noah Nicholas Emmerich is an American film actor who first broke out in the film Beautiful Girls. He was later seen in movies like The Truman Show, Cop Land, Frequency, Love & Sex, Windtalkers, Miracle, Super 8 and Little Children.-Early life:Emmerich was born in New York City to a Jewish family,...

     as Dan Taylor
  • Kevin Dunn
    Kevin Dunn
    Kevin Dunn is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films since the 1980s. His roles include Colonel Hicks in the 1998 version of Godzilla, Sam Witwicky's father in Transformers, and Oscar Galvin, the primary antagonist in the 2010 action thriller...

     as Principal Joe Zito
  • Denzel Whitaker
    Denzel Whitaker
    Denzel Dominique Whitaker is an American actor, playing key roles in the films The Great Debaters and Training Day, as well as TV shows ER, Brothers & Sisters and The War At Home. He later went on to be a featured cast member during the tenth and final season of the Nickelodeon sketch-comedy...

     as Stephon
  • Maximiliano Hernández as Colt Boyd
  • Erik Apple
    Erik Apple
    Erik Apple is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He is currently signed with Strikeforce.-MMA career:...

     as Pete "Mad Dog" Grimes
  • Vanessa Martinez as Pilar Fernandez
  • Nate Marquardt as Karl Kruller
  • Anthony "Rumble" Johnson
    Anthony Johnson (fighter)
    Anthony Kewoa Johnson is an American mixed martial artist, who competes as a welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.-Amateur wrestling:...

     as Orlando "Midnight" Lee
  • Josh Rosenthal
    Josh Rosenthal
    -Early life:Josh Rosenthal was born in Melbourne, Australia.Rosenthal's early years were surrounded by his parents' significant Australian art collection which included such artists as John Perceval, Charles Blackman, Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley, Norman Lindsay, and Roy DeMaistre, all of whom...

     as himself
  • Bryan Callen
    Bryan Callen
    Bryan Christopher Callen is an American actor. Callen is notable for being one of the original cast of comedians on the sketch comedy series MADtv.-Early life:...

     as himself
  • Sam Sheridan as himself
  • Rashad Evans
    Rashad Evans
    Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist from Niagara Falls, New York, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2. Evans lost the UFC Light Heavyweight...

     as himself


Themes

Described by critics as "heartbreaking and emotionally satisfying," "really gripping," and "an unapologetic powerhouse of emotional conflict," and self-described as a "rousing ode to redemption, reconcilation and the power of the human spirit," Warrior has received the most praise for the emotional approach it takes to the themes of forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...

 and "the enduring bonds of family" that it explores. In their review, Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media , commonly known as CSM, is a San Francisco-based non-profit organization which serves as a guide for parents that has reviews for most media types, including books, movies, video games, music, and websites, and rates them in terms of violence, sex, and profanity. The website...

 cites unconditional love as a major theme, further explaining that "some weighty issues" such as estrangement and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 are dealt with.

Production

Mogul Minds Studios, (now 31st Street Studios), located in Pittsburgh, was used during the filming, as well as the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

's Petersen Events Center
Petersen Events Center
Not to be confused with Petersen Sports Complex.The John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center is a 12,508-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It hosts the men's and women's Pitt Panthers basketball teams...

 and the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In. North Hills High School was also used for some interior scenes. Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States...

 in Atlantic City was used for the exterior scenes of the main fight venue, along with scenes filmed on the boardwalk and beach.

Hardy went through a demanding training routine for gaining muscle during the film's pre-production, gaining around 28 pounds (13 kg) of muscle and raising his overall weight to 205 pounds (93 kg) (a physique which he also used to portray Bane
Bane (comics)
Bane is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 , and was created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan. Bane has been one of Batman's more physically and intellectually powerful foes...

 in The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises is an upcoming epic superhero film. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film will be the third and final installment in Nolan's Batman film series, and is a sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight...

).

Additional filming was shot at the former West Virginia State Penitentiary
West Virginia State Penitentiary
The West Virginia State Penitentiary is a retired, gothic style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia. It operated from 1876 to 1995. Currently, the site is maintained as a tourist attraction and training facility.-Design:...

, located in Moundsville, West Virginia
Moundsville, West Virginia
Moundsville is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,998 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marshall County. The city was named for the Grave Creek Mound. Moundsville was settled in...

.

Additional scenes were shot around the historic Pitt Hotel and Restaurant in McDonald, Pennsylvania
McDonald, Pennsylvania
McDonald is a borough in Allegheny and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, 18 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. In the past, manufactories of bottles, oil-well drilling tools, flour-mill products, etc., existed here. Oil and coal were and still are procured in the area...

.

The film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...

 for "sequences of intense mixed martial arts fighting, some language and thematic material."

Marketing

The Men of Warrior book was released on July 19, 2011. Lionsgate's "We Are All Warriors" project to support the release of Warrior by highlighting everyday heroes was launched August 1, 2011.

Box office

Warrior debuted in third place in its first week at the U.S. box office with $5,242,107 behind Contagion
Contagion (film)
Contagion is a 2011 American medical thriller disaster film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film has an ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston. Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal...

and The Help
The Help (film)
The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The film is about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America in the early 1960s...

. It dropped down to #8 the following weekend. The film has made $13,651,662 in United States and Canada, and $5,800,000 in foreign countries for a worldwide total of $19,451,662.

Critical reception

Warrior has received strongly positive reviews from critics, with many praising the themes, strong emotional content, acting, and fight scenes. According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, 83% critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 7.2/10, based on 159 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Warrior relies on many of the clichés that critics of the genre love to mock — and it transcends them with gripping action, powerful acting, and heart." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reported that 71% of the 35 reviews it aggregated were positive about the film, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Bruce Diones of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

highly praised the actors' performances, especially Tom Hardy's, as "convincingly real" and "sensational." He further complimented the film as "cathartic" and "winning," and said that the film as a whole "achieves a surprising compassion and honesty." Simon Miraudo from Quickflix
Quickflix
Quickflix is a service offering online DVD and Blu-ray disc rental-by-mail in Australia , as well as instant streaming. Established in 2003 and headquartered in Sydney, NSW, it has amassed a collection of more than 50,000 titles and over 80,000 subscribers.-Disc rental:The company provides a...

 praised the character development of brothers Tommy Riordan and Brendan Conlon: "When they speak to each other for the first time in the film – amazingly, only once before they actually meet in the ring – we understand their relationship completely." He called the film as a whole "beautiful" in spite of how violent it is, and gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media , commonly known as CSM, is a San Francisco-based non-profit organization which serves as a guide for parents that has reviews for most media types, including books, movies, video games, music, and websites, and rates them in terms of violence, sex, and profanity. The website...

's Sandie Angulo Chen called the film "a touching family drama wrapped in an intense 'David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

 vs. Goliath'-style fight." Meanwhile, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, declaring that "this is a rare fight movie in which we don't want to see either fighter lose," while praising Gavin O'Connor's direction and Nick Nolte's performance. Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...

 of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 was also complimentary towards O'Connor, stating that he "comes out swinging in this flawed but fiercely moving family drama," while A.O. Scott of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

credited the film for being "appropriately blunt, powerful and relentless," also praising the "skillfully staged" fight scenes.

Some critics, including Philip French
Philip French
Philip French is a British film critic and former radio producer.French, the son of an insurance salesman, was educated at the direct grant Bristol Grammar School, read Law at Oxford University. and post graduate study in Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington on a scholarship.He has been...

 from the UK magazine The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

, have noted similarities to other sports drama films such as Rocky
Rocky
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

(1976), The Wrestler (2008), and The Fighter
The Fighter
The Fighter is a 2010 biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. The film centers on the life of professional boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund . The film also stars Amy Adams as...

(2010).
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