Right off the bat, let's get something straight.
I'm sure there are some of you who look at the title and subject of this post and are saying, "'Warrior' isn't a new movie! It came out in theaters months ago!"
I rarely make it out to the theater. There are select, few movies that I will actually leave the comfort of my home, brave the elements and put up with annoying people in order to see.
You see, I just don't have to. Like many Americans, I've constructed a home theater. It consists of a 46-inch LCD flatscreen TV, complete with installed-by-me, surround sound. It's not top of the line, but it's nice. And you know what my theater doesn't have?
Other people.
So unless a preview for a movie totally knocks my shoes and my socks off, I'm gonna wait a few months and just watch that sucker in the comfort of my home theater.
"Warrior" is one such movie that I waited for. Here's what I thought of it:
First off, let me be forthcoming and admit that I'm a massive mixed martial arts (MMA) fan. I watch every UFC pay-per-view event. I even am employed to write for a prominent MMA website, on the side.
Because of my knowledge of the sport and my affection for it, it was hard for me to overlook some key inaccuracies in this film.
MMA has been fighting some harmful myths and flat-out untruths for years. This movie, unfortunately, did much to further some of those myths.
In addition to those harmful missteps, there were a handful of other details that made me wonder why they didn't involve more MMA minds in the making of this movie. Someone should have stepped in at multiple points and said: "Hey. We need to change that. It isn't truly reflective of the sport of MMA, today, and it's going to bug real fans."
To summarize, if you are a real MMA fan, you are going to be bothered by a lot of things in this movie.
That's out of the way now.
Let's talk positives.
Tom Hardy was brilliant in this film. That shouldn't be surprising. He's been brilliant in pretty much everything he's ever been in.
Doing a Boston accent can really come off as over-the-top and too much. Especially when it's coming from someone who has a very different accent in real life, as does the very-British Hardy.
The storyline was suspenseful, fun and something that anyone can rally around. My wife doesn't like action movies, but she seemed to really enjoy this movie.
Not all the MMA aspects were bad. It could have been much worse. They used some actual professional MMA fighters, which, as a fan, I appreciated.
Language was not deplorable, but I will say there was a decent amount of the "s-word" and one use (that I remember) of the "f-bomb."
I have to admit, language doesn't usually bother me, but I figured I should make note of it, in case you are not in my boat.
All in all, I walk away from this movie saying it was "okay." I wouldn't buy it, but I'm glad I watched it.
Have you seen 'Warrior?' What did you think? What's the best movie you've seen within the last month?
