Warrior

The summer went by briskly, and without much of note... at least in the world of movies.  The films that were supposed to stink stunk. The films that were supposed to be great turned out fine, and the films that nobody really seemed to focus on turned out to be the ones truly worth viewing (aka--"Rise of the Planet of the Apes").  So, after a season that left me overall deflated in areas such as excitement, and hope for cool movies I realized that I didn't know what movies were coming up this fall that I was excited for.  I no longer knew what was even coming out.  Enter the weekend of 9/11.  We have a movie about world-wide catastrophe in "Contagion", or the seemingly straight-forward underdog sports film, "Warrior".  "Contagion" seemed to play too much to the sensationalism of the press, and their leeching off of the hearts of humanity and its shock at the horrors around them; then throw in a release date right next to September 11th, and the idea of seeing a movie about global devastation felt too taboo and tacky for me to support.  I opted for "Warrior".  I think I made the right choice.

Warrior captured me right out of the gate. The cinematography is wonderfully executed, and though not revolutionary, it kept you looking with an interested eye.  If a  movie can capture me exposition-wise then I'm already half sold.  The script also hits all the right notes: characters are introduced interestingly, and before I knew it I cared about, or at least were keenly interested in these people before I had heard more than a few lines of dialogue.

I don't want to give much away because I'm encouraging everyone who can to see this, but I'll give a vague introductory. One thing to get out of the way is that this is obviously a movie featuring organized competitive mixed martial arts (MMA), but the movie is much more than what it looks like on the surface. The story, at its heart, is about family and the wide variety of struggles that can arise in any one family. Some of the family feuding present is fully expected, and nothing new, but the majority of the family dynamics are intriguing, and fascinating.  A lot of questions arise within the characters, and, more importantly, the viewer questions what values are most important to us, and what would we have done or do in these characters positions?  These questions kept me glued to the story throughout. 

Of course "Warrior" wouldn't be much of a fighting movie without some good ol' hand-to-hand combat.  The fight scenes are filmed compellingly, and are a nice mix up from the long standing Rocky-esque formula that most might come to expect.  There are multiple fights. They're rough, gritty, and almost every single one carries equal weight.  With each punch thrown there is anticipation, and a strong feeling of impact.  A couple of the knockouts left me literally saying "Holy Cow!"  That's the skill and excitement at which the fights are filmed.

When all is said and done I have to admit I loved this movie.  Maybe that is part of my inner male aggression coming out.  Maybe it was a need to see a film where I never had to grimace at the acting or dialogue.  But, mostly I think I loved "Warrior" because it took familiar themes and adeptly turned them on their heads in a thoughtful way... unlike almost all of the summer blockbuster fare.  I'm going out on a limb.... "Warrior" is the best movie of the year so far.

Grade: A-