Warrior 2011

Critics score:
82 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: All the director and co-writer Gavin O'Connor does is apply old boxing-film tricks to what is, for the movies, a new sport. Then he doubles them. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's about broken families coming together. It's about economic desperation and about America getting off the ropes and recovering its fighting spirit. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: A double-barreled Rocky for the mixed martial arts generations, the practically epic fight film Warrior is one of the most exhilarating surprises of this summer movie season. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is appropriately blunt, powerful and relentless, a study of male bodies in sweaty motion and masculine emotions in teary turmoil. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Works like gangbusters -- tears will be stifled by the end of the sibling vs. sibling finale -- and most of the credit should go to Hardy, Nolte and Edgerton. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's too corny to live. But the picture is a slam dunk. I mean a ground-and-pound double-leg takedown. It's really gripping. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Yes, the coincidences are fast and furious, but both Edgerton and Hardy give powerful performances as damaged men. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Choppy editing makes a hash out of the fight scenes, and, by the end, a Neanderthal sensibility asserts itself: A brotherly beating makes the heart grow fonder. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Warrior is a man-weepie of the highest Hollywood order, a would-be Rocky for an empire in decline. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Hardy is as good an actor as there is working today; his intensity here is amazing. Nolte hasn't been this good in a long time. And Edgerton holds his own with both. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: For all the contemporary references, it's essentially a spin on the story of Cain and Abel, which may be the reason it feels timeless. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Every time you start resisting, somehow the film makes the sale, again. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: O'Connor films the fight scenes, and the fight training scenes leading up to them, with the requisite oomph. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: It's also a fight movie that knows all the fight movie cliches and doesn't shy away from embracing them wholeheartedly. But it hits its marks and hits them well, and feels fresh even as it traffics so deeply in the familiar. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: The beats are familiar, the stakes are high, the fights are brutal, and the rewards are just. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: The family drama resonates strongly with a resolution that, in retrospect, seems like the only way the brothers could have rediscovered blood ties. Meanwhile their fights are downright compelling. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Director Gavin O'Connor has turned the octagon of Ultimate Fighting into a cage of boiling family emotion. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Hits things so hard, both literally and metaphorically, that it's hard not to feel pummeled yourself by the time it's over. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Against all odds, Warrior sucks you in and leaves you thrumming with excitement. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: The movie is so skillfully made, and the performances are so convincingly real (Hardy is sensational), that, as it reaches its cathartic, winning finish, it achieves a surprising compassion and honesty. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Nolte's performance is masterful, marshalling together pain and regret and a slowly dawning comprehension in a single wince. But all this film has going for it besides him are its incredibly brutal fight scenes. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Warrior ends up feeling a lot bigger than you expect it to. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This fictional drama about two men struggling with the anger planted in them by their abusive father has moments of power that push through a fake-out script. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A cheap exploitation picture wrapped in miles and miles of stale would-be Oscar scenes... Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Skillfully made and adrenalin-fueled, Warrior is nothing like what I expected. It overcomes inescapable boxing and martial arts cliches and leaves you thoroughly sated, energized and wanting more. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The two leads, Edgerton and Hardy, pull off their respective roles - rising above the cliches and the melodrama - with ferocity and focus. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Ultimately, this movie is more about the dark, bloody conflicts within the human heart than it is about what transpires in the cage. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: The plot is Shakespeare meets Balboa. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is a rare fight movie in which we don't want to see either fighter lose. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Director Gavin O'Connor comes out swinging in this flawed but fiercely moving family drama...Strong stuff. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: O'Connor chucks away everything that was interesting or dark or subtle in "Warrior" and replaces it with a pseudo-individualist, sub-Freudian, Tea Party-friendly fantasy. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The set-up sounds gallingly crude and derivative, yet "Warrior" turns it into a one-two punch of gripping action and powerful drama. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Warrior" could have used a bit more guts. But it's still a knockout. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Warrior is a weirdly affecting hybrid, a 100-proof melodrama that's two-thirds Sylvester Stallone and one-third Eugene O'Neill. Think Rocky's Long Day's Journey into Night. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: All in all, though, Warrior wins on points, even with a resolution that didn't work for me. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Warrior's three principle characterizations are compelling - Nolte in particular gives a tempered performance as the shambling, sad-eyed wreck of a dad - but not enough to mask the film's lesser elements. Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: This doesn't pack a punch like 'The Fighter' - but it's still a must for grapple fans. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Lovers of the sport and macho men in general be warned: Warrior is so beautifully constructed and emotionally engaging, the tears are almost certain to fall. Bring a hankie and/or a very discreet companion. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: An improbably effective and affecting mix of raw emotions and exciting smackdowns. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Old line-gargler Nolte remains an effortlessly moving presence, while Hardy and Edgerton embody their archetypes and handle the physical demands. Read more

John DeFore, Washington Post: While "Warrior" does offer enough jaw-snapping action to sate any 'roid-ragers in the audience, it works on deeper levels as well. Read more