Warrior

Warrior opened in the United States in September 2011, just as MMA was going mainstream: the UFC had just announced its broadcast deal with Fox. Gavin O'Connor, who had already made the ice hockey film Miracle (2004), built a family drama around a fictional single-elimination tournament, Sparta, held in Atlantic City.

Two styles, two brothers

The film pits two profiles against each other that anyone who trains will recognise. Tommy, a former wrestling prospect coached by his father, walks forward, grabs, slams and hits hard. Brendan, older and less powerful, relies on ground work, patience and submissions. The script uses that contrast to shape every fight: takedowns, cage control, armlocks, reversals. MMA fighters and wrestlers will recognise the positions, even if the pace of the exchanges is sped up for the screen.

Real fighters in the cast

O'Connor mixed actors with athletes. Kurt Angle, Olympic freestyle wrestling champion at Atlanta 1996, plays Koba, the Russian favourite. Nate Marquardt, Yves Edwards and Roan Carneiro, all UFC veterans, play opponents. Marquardt, Edwards and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson also helped prepare Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, who started training in December 2009. Hardy, who knew nothing about mixed martial arts, combined boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai and weights, and put on close to 13 kilos of muscle. The film was shot in Pittsburgh, including the university's Petersen Events Center.

A box office miss, a later success

On release the film barely registered: around 13.7 million dollars in the United States against a 25 million budget. Reviews were positive, though, and Nick Nolte, as a father trying to make amends, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. It then found its audience on home video and television, and became a reference among combat sports athletes.

Warrior does not try to portray a real promotion. Its strength lies in how each fight extends the family conflict, and in bodies that put in real work to look credible inside a cage.