My Pick for Movie of the Year, 2011..

Hello again my friends and welcome to a feature that I hope will end up an annual tradition.  The year of 2012 is just around the corner and looking back upon this year, I have to say I am very impressed with the movies that were released in these past twelve months.  From the rites of passage, time-party-piece Take Me Home Tonight, to the classical horror flick, Insidious; its been a very good year for movies. But the thing that has made this year very interesting (movie-wise, of course) was the fact that the best movies were the ones that I wouldn't think twice about.

Along with the movies mentioned before, the films that completely impressed me the most, took me by surprise. I wasn't really excited for The Art of Getting By, Immortals, and even the popular Crazy Stupid Love. Yet, they were some of my favorites of 2011 nonetheless.  But one movie stuck out among the rest. This masterpiece had me at times excited, laughing, and cheering; and at other times sympathetic, emotional, and even, well....crying.

Warrior is an exceptional, outstanding piece of film.  From the opening scene, Warrior proves to be more than just another "Rocky-esque" fighting movie.  Rather, the fighting is just a channel to show the emotional struggle of the characters, just in physical form.

The story of Warrior revolves around the flawed three-way relationship between two brothers, Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy) and Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) and their former alcoholic turned sober father Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte.)  The effort to repair these relationships mostly comes from the father, Paddy, as he is trying to reconcile and redeem himself for making the split between his family.  All of their paths intersect in the fighting tournament, Sparta, in which the winner will win a cool 5 million dollars.  In this tournament, the family will either heal and come together, or break and explode in tragic fashion.

To pull off such a complex and emtional drama is hard as you have to have the right actors to pull it off.  But there is no such problem here, as both of the brothers are believable and feel actually real; which is essential in fighting films, as the audience must believe in the motives and aspirations of the fighters just as much, if not more, than the actual fighters themselves do.  Even with the great performances of Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, they are still out-shined by the veteran actor Nick Nolte.  Nick Nolte has the hardest job of the three, as he must portray the role of a grieving father, who is striving to reconnect with the sons he pushed away in his alcoholic days.  His struggle to heal his relationship with his sons actually outweighs any of the struggles of the fighters in the story, and that is something significant to note.

But, for those of you who don't care for that touchy-feely crap, the fighting in Warrior is amazing.  The choreography is astounding as it looks as if they are really fighting. None of the punches, kicks, throws, or submissions feel pulled, and the best thing about them is they don't look clean. In most fighting movies, the fighting can be followed and acknowledged. But if you have ever actually seen a real MMA fight, you can see when the fighter's aggression and tenacity take over and they aren't concerned for looking great but more for winning the match.  This part of MMA fighting is portrayed fully in the film and I appreciate every minute of it.  While the movie starts off with a few fights here and there, it ends with a bang in the Sparta tournament. I thoroughly enjoyed all the fights and was extremely entertained.

All in all, Warrior is the best movie of 2011 with its deep, gut-wrenching drama and its awesome explicit fighting.  But the thing that impressed me the most about this movie is its realism.  I honestly thought this was a true story when I first saw it.  Upon researching I learned otherwise,  but regardless, I like to think it is still a true story.  And any movie that makes the viewer disregard the facts and accept the illusion is worthy of your time and money.
                                                                    -Know-it-All,  Joe