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Warrior
The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament – a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged, older brother.
2011 · Directed by Gavin O'Connor · 140 min · Drama · Action · Screenplay in the scene database · 16 frames
Tagline
Family is worth fighting for.
Plot
A melancholic U.S. Marine Thomas "Tommy" Riordan visits his estranged father, Paddy Conlon, a recovering alcoholic who has returned to his Roman Catholic faith in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a child, Tommy and his mom ran away from Pittsburgh after she contracted cancer because of Paddy's abusive alcoholism. Paddy tries to convince Tommy that he has changed, but to no avail. The next day, Tommy joins a fighting gym where he offers to spar Pete "Mad Dog" Grimes, one of the world's best middleweight fighters. After he quickly knocks out the more accomplished fighter, a video of Tommy's sparring match goes viral. After his success, the owner of the gym allows Tommy to enter a mixed martial arts tournament called Sparta, which has a prize pool of $5 million. Tommy returns to Paddy's to train and live with him, though he makes it clear this is not a reconciliation. Meanwhile, in the Iraq, a group of Marines watches Tommy's fight while one of them recognizes him.
Simultaneously, Tommy's older brother Brendan, a high school physics teacher and former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, is struggling to provide for his wife, Tess, and their two daughters. After mortgaging their home in Philadelphia to pay for his younger daughter's open heart surgery, the bank is threatening to foreclose the house. Unbeknownst to Tess, Brendan begins battling amateur fighters to earn extra income. He is suspended without pay after details of his secret fights spread around the school he works for. Paddy finds Brendan in Philadelphia to try and reconcile, but is unsuccessful. The interaction ends with Paddy telling his son that Tommy is back in town and living with him. The next day, Brendan seeks out his old friend and trainer Frank Campana to begin competing in larger venue fights; however, Frank chooses not to enter him into Sparta. After several weeks of intense training, the fighter that was going to enter into Sparta is injured, and Brendan convinces Frank to enter him as a replacement.
When the brothers arrive in Atlantic City, New Jersey for Sparta, Brendan spots Tommy at the opening press conference. Tommy leaves after Brendan tries to approach him. Despite avoiding the public, the marine who recognized Tommy from his fight with Mad Dog informs the media that Tommy ripped off the door of a sinking tank to save his life in Iraq. The revelation causes the media to paint Tommy as a war hero, though he shuns the attention. Brendan reaches out to Paddy for Tommy's location, srtting up a late nigh confrontation on the beach. Tommy remains angry with Brendan for choosing to stay with Tess when Tommy and their mother left Paddy years before; Tommy was ledt alone across the country in Seattle, Washington to care for their mother when she became terminally ill. Brendan justifies his decision and asks for forgiveness, but Tommy refuses.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Gavin O'Connor, Anthony Tambakis, Cliff Dorfman
- Cinematography: Masanobu Takayanagi
- Edited by: Sean Albertson, Matt Chessé, John Gilroy, Aaron Marshall
- Music: Mark Isham
- Production design: Dan Leigh
- Produced by: Gavin O'Connor, Greg O'Connor
Cast
- Joel Edgerton as Brendan Conlon
- Tom Hardy as Tommy Conlon
- Nick Nolte as Paddy Conlon
- Jennifer Morrison as Tess Conlon
- Frank Grillo as Frank Campana
- Kevin Dunn as Principal Zito
- Maximiliano Hernández as Colt Boyd
- Bryan Callen as Bryan Callen
- Sam Sheridan as Sam Sheridan
- Fernando Chien as Fenroy
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Lionsgate, Mimran Schur Pictures, Solaris Film, Filmtribe
- Budget: $25,000,000
- Box office: $23,300,000
- Themes: bank, training, beating, mixed martial arts (mma), teacher, muscleman, combat, alcoholic, gym, exercise
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