Review: Warrior

Warrior certainly won't win any prizes for originality as you've seen a similar story told several times before in fight films - It's also far too long at 2 hours 20 mins, taking well over an hour to get to the tournament where it all kicks off, figuratively and literally.

Tom Hardy eschews the Christian Bale approach from The Fighter, instead offering up his best De Niro impression as the Jake La Motta-esque Tommy Riordan, a brilliant fighter but a broken human being, scarred by his war experiences. Nick Nolte comes close to out-mumbling Hardy as the father cum coach with his own demons - but the real acting credit here should go to Joel Edgerton who much like Wahlberg did last year, offers a restrained performance in support while others around him give their best shot at impressing judges going for awards.

When they finally make it to the cage is where the film finally starts to show its potential with fights brilliantly shot to give a real sense of the brutality involved in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Whoever cast Kurt Angle deserves credit, as anyone who watches wrestling will tell you that there is no one better at putting on a fake fight than the former Olympic Gold Medallist.

Much like the characters involved, Warrior starts flawed but ends up pretty good.