(Promotional material courtesy of Lionsgate)
When I drove to Chicago to answer the invitation MMA Gospel received to attend a three week advanced screening of Lionsgate Entertainment’s new mixed martial arts drama Warrior staring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, I didn’t expect much. The few short trailers that had come out prior had piqued my interest though and seemed to imply that the film would offer more than the poor acting of several UFC champions and excessive nudity that previous MMA films had given us, but knowing the mainstream media’s still jaded opinion of the sport, I didn’t expect Warrior to be much more than a basic rehash of every old boxing movie re-skinned to appeal to niche market MMA fans. I was pleasantly surprised. Director/screenwriter Gavin O’Connor put together a movie that appeals to fans of all walks of life and manages to weave a story that is both deeply ensconced in the subculture of mixed martial arts and completely independent of the action in the cage at the same time. The story could have centered around any sport and still had a serious impact on the viewer, but MMA was certainly the best fit. Continue reading »
