Warrior Movie Review Warrior is a powerful fighting movie portraying the battles of two brothers that reunite after years in the final fight of a mixed martial arts tournament. The two brothers, Tommy and Brendan, grew up together yet had two very different upbringings. Different circumstances bring them to the same decision that they need to fight for a living. Brendan needs to support his family while Tommy drastically changed from a happy, competitive and caring child to an angry, reserved man fighting for himself. The younger brother Tommy was painfully scarred by betrayals throughout his entire life. First his father, who was his coach and mentor, was an alcoholic that abused Tommy’s mother. Tommy grew up training with his father to six straight junior Olympic championships and a high school state championship with the dream of defeating the mythical Greek fighter Theogenes’ undefeated record. However, because of the way his dad treated them, he planned to leave him with his mother and older brother, except at the last minute, Brendan decided to stay behind with his girlfriend. Later on, Tommy becomes alone because of his mother’s passing. Then, after finding his new family in the marines where he was content again, his troop and best friend were killed by friendly fire, leaving him as the lone survivor. As he was on his way back to the states, he crossed along a troop in Iraq that was in trouble. Their tank was under water, and Tommy ripped off the back hatch so they could get out. After performing this heroic task, he disappeared without receiving any recognition and continued on his way alone.
When Tommy comes back to his hometown to visit his father after fourteen years, it is obvious that he is no longer the joyful kid he once was. Some traits of his psychological core appear to still be inherent, while others were altered due to his experiences. He has become a miserable, furious, driven fighter. His low competitive anxiety is shown through his calmness before fights and confidence in and out of the cage. Tommy fights fearlessly with passion because he has nothing more to lose. His attitude displays that he doesn’t care about the glory or attention by avoiding interviews, signing autographs, or getting his picture taken. After knocking out his opponent, he skips the post match referee’s hand raising ritual, indicating the winner, to storm out of the cage. Brendan tried to talk to Tommy for the first time since he left with his mother, but he wasn’t interested in conversing, stating that Brendan is not a brother to him because his “brothers were in the core.” He doesn’t want to build relationships with his family again because he’s too angry to forgive them. The loneliness and pain and misery that he has suffered, he pins directly on his father and brother. Since he already feels alone, he’s afraid of losing the people that he gets close to all over again.
Through all the suffering he has been through, Tommy fights for the families of the marines in his troop that were lost in Iraq. He feels guilty that he alone survived, and winning the five million dollar purse, which he intends to give to the families of his deceased warrior brothers, will go a long way to erase his guilt for not dying with his comrades in arms. He won’t abandon anyone that he is close to since he has already lost all the people he loves. Past all of the anger and misery, the compassion and care that he grew up with is hardwired in him. He has disrespected his recovering alcoholic abusive father the entire movie until he returns to his old self and gets drunk, leaving Tommy with an old man that needs his help. For one scene, Tommy lets his guard down because there is no one around to notice, so he steps up to put his dad in bed. The scene ends showing that Tommy is still a caretaker as he listens to his dad say that he loves him. In the final scene of the movie, Tommy fights his older brother for the tournament winnings of five million dollars. His father left the scene and now once again, Tommy can only rely on himself. For the first time, Tommy isn’t dominating the fight. His arm gets ripped out of his socket yet he doesn’t quit. He realizes that he has the support of the crowd and his fellow Marines as they chant his name. In a moving moment, as Brendan has Tommy in a chokehold, he tells him that he’s sorry and it’s okay to let go. Once Brendan says “I love you Tommy”, he gives in, tapping to end the fight and forgiving Brendan for bailing on him years ago.
The film explores the changes of personalities among the two brothers and values in the human condition worth fighting for. Although a bit cheesy and full of clichés, Warrior captures emotions in a gripping study of what it means to fight for noble causes, to love, forgive, and find redemption. Tommy’s competitive personality in the cage was derived from his wrestling childhood while his anger and passion was a result of the tragic experiences faced with his family and friends. The conflict of values is about bitterness versus forgiveness as no one could win the fight until forgiveness took place.