8.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.7 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.7 |
An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for a mixed martial arts tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family. Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father. But when Brendan's unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense, winner-takes-all battle of their lives.
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank GrilloAction | 100% |
Sport | 52% |
Martial arts | 38% |
Drama | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy (as download)
DVD copy
Bonus View (PiP)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Stop me if you’ve seen this one before: a dysfunctional Irish-American family with two brothers tries to overcome their internecine battles to take on the world of professional fighting. If you trade out a harried mother for a father and switch the world of boxing to that of Mixed Martial Arts, you have the gist of why Warrior may remind you more than a little bit of The Fighter. With Nick Nolte a contender (no pun intended) for a Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination in Warrior, one only has to wonder whether he, like Melissa Leo when she won for The Fighter, will drop the F-bomb should he take home the trophy. Despite the surface similarities, the two films are vastly different in content and tone, and it’s to Warrior’s credit that despite what some may feel is riffing on a fairly familiar (and filmically recent) theme, the film is an emotional powerhouse with some very smart writing that manages to sum up a lifetime of familial dysfunction in a line or two. Warrior’s ménage a trois deals with father Paddy Conlon (Nolte) and his two estranged sons, ex-Marine Tommy (Tom Hardy), who has taken his mother’s maiden name of Riordan for reasons which are revealed later in the film, and physics teacher Brendan (Joel Edgerton). In the blistering first scene between Tommy and Paddy which starts off the film, years of dysfunction come tumbling out in just a line or two, with attendant furtive glances. Paddy is a recovering alcoholic and it’s revealed that his ex-wife left with Tommy years ago and died in Tacoma several years previously while Tommy joined the Marines. It eventually becomes clear that Brendan didn’t even wait for his Mother to take off, and in fact had eloped with his soon to be wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison) in order to get out from the violent, misshapen world his father’s drinking had visited on the family. Tommy’s reentry into Paddy’s life serves as the genesis for an emotionally devastating look at how wounded souls can overcome their scars to forge new understandings that, if not outright love, at least have the semblance of some sort of forgiving grace.
Warrior is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This is a very nice looking high definition presentation despite a sort of proto-indie feel that keeps things filtered toward the green side of the spectrum in several of the outdoor shots as well as those inside Paddy's home. Flesh tones are very well saturated and accurate, and the film sports considerable sharpness and clarity. Some of the exterior nighttime shots suffer from overabundant grain, which may bother some, but overall the transfer is very filmic looking, with a natural texture and appearance. Contrast is excellent and black levels are solid throughout the film.
Warrior is presented with three different sound mixes, and it's somewhat instructive to repeat what in my
experience is the first ever explanatory text included on the Audio menu of this Lionsgate release:
Lionsgate and the filmmakers are proud to offer you three separate audio options on this "Warrior" Blu-ray disc. These
are
intended to make the highest quality audio experience available to the home viewer, depending on your listening
environment.
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio – the best choice for properly aligned 5.1 surround home theater systems. This
represents the original theatrical experience as the filmmakers intended.
English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio – this option was mixed for those who specifically have a discrete four-channel surround
7.1 home theater set up. It is specifically created to provide a more enveloping and immersive surround experience.
English 2.0 Dolby Digital – created for systems with only two speakers or for a Dolby Pro-Logic decoding system if available.
Warrior's two multichannel tracks are incredible affairs which are able to provide outstanding immersion and really thrilling dynamic
range. The differences between the 5.1 and 7.1 mixes are subtle but noticeable, especially in such immersive moments as a flashback to Iraq,
where Tommy did his tour of duty, and later the fabulous fight sequence which crowns the film. The sound mixing here is really state of the
art, with raucous crowd sounds spilling through the surrounds even as individual smacks and grunts from the fighters are perfectly and
discretely placed throughout the soundfield. The film also has its share of quieter dialogue scenes, and these also sport excellent fidelity and
clarity.
My prediction is you're going to see Nolte on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar roster in a couple of months, and my hunch is he may very well take home the statuette for this beautifully nuanced performance. Though Warrior is an emotional powerhouse, it's also contrived and very familiar, and not just because of the quite recent The Fighter, which it resembles in at least some surface elements. But the three leads here are all worthy of praise, and the message of forgiveness and redemption is certainly a worthy one. This Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, and comes with some excellent supplemental materials, so this release is Highly recommended.
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