Film Review - Warrior

I am in no way, shape, or form a fan of sport. Any sport. I have a particular aversion to the violence of the likes of wrestling or boxing. And yet, once in a while, a sporting movie comes along that manages to get itself under my skin. Last year's Oscar winning The Fighter was better than I expected, but is unlikely to ever grace my BluRay shelf. However, when you put these two films together, one is clearly superior. And it's not The Fighter. In 1999, Gwyneth Paltrow won an Oscar for her portrayal of a cross-dressing woman. In 2000, Hilary Swank won an Oscar for HER portrayal of a cross-dressing woman, one that frankly made Gwyneth's look positively laughable. Well, this year Christian Bale won an Oscar for his OTT performance as an off-the-rails has-been boxer. Here, both Tom Hardy and Joel "Uncle Owen" Edgerton have shown his performance up for the cartoon it was. And I haven't even mentioned Nick Nolte yet. Having becoming something of a public joke in recent years, his performance here is a revelation. Despite being relatively uneventful, repetitive, and even predictable, it also manages to be heartfelt, intense, and utterly compelling.