SM Cinemas exclusively show Lionsgate’s ‘Warrior’ nationwide Sept 28

What do you fight for?

That is the central question of director Gavin O’Connor’s “Warrior.”  The movie is an intense glimpse into the world of a sport never before shown like this on film.  More than that though, it’s an intense glimpse into a family’s journey from brokenness to reparation, and into the hearts of two brothers – one fighting for his country, the other for his family – both tapping into immense stores of vigor and courage.

The movie features rising stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as they command the screen as two estranged brothers facing the fight of a lifetime­.

The start of the film finds Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) back in the orbit of a broken family he’d given up on years ago.  When he and his mother escaped his abusive father Paddy (Nick Nolte), his brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) stayed behind to be close to his high school girlfriend Tess (Jennifer Morrison), to whom he is now married.  Though Paddy and Tommy have made a patchy truce in order to train together once again, communication between the brothers is nonexistent when they both make a surprise ascent up the rungs of the nationally televised Sparta tournament. The matches, explains O’Connor, are the backdrop to “a story about two brothers on a collision course who have to deal with their past in the present day, in a cage, communicating with their fists to rectify a very painful situation.”

Although by facing off the brothers are ultimately able to break through many years of pent up hostility and regret, each has more than their fraternal relationship at stake in the tournament.  Each really needs to win the giant cash prize, though for very different reasons.  Brendan’s family has been hit hard by the economic crisis and he and Tess are in deep debt on their modest house.   Having exhausted all other avenues, Brendan, a longtime high school teacher, reluctantly revisits his distant past and begins moonlighting in small local underground fights, hoping to win enough money to stay in the house for another month while they can figure out a viable solution.   When his fighting gets him suspended from his teaching job, a comeback that began in parking lots out of desperation for quick extra cash morphs into a personal crusade: to be taken seriously as a fighter despite his age and long absence from the sport, and to push himself as far as he can possibly go.

Tommy, on the other hand, is a lone wolf.  He joined the Marine Corps after his mother’s death and has been drifting and falling into trouble since he returned from Iraq.  When we first meet him, Tommy’s past is a mystery and his motives are inscrutable.  But as the story unfolds, we learn he made a promise to a fallen comrade to take care of his family in the event of his death.   Now, he is fighting for the money to fulfill that promise.  Should he win the $5 million grand prize at Sparta, he has pledged to give it all to the now single mother and small children his former friend left behind.

Balancing the audience’s sympathies and alliances between the brothers was one of the biggest challenges inherent in the filmmaking.  With both of them fighting for something so important, as O’Connor puts it, “you’re rooting for Tommy to keep winning, and you’re rooting for Brendan to keep winning.” But then, the audience is faced with a decision: who they root for when the brothers finally face each other.  In O’Connor’s mind, despite Tommy’s noble motives for entering the tournament, the trick to the movie is that the audience has to be ready to see Tommy lose, which for him is also actually to win.  He elaborates, “Tommy’s win is losing, because he’s so spiritually bankrupt.  He needs to die at the hands of his brother to be reborn.  It’s very Old Testament storytelling in the most contemporary way.”

In many ways, the project was a second-nature stop on O’Connor’s filmmaking trajectory.  Many of his colleagues on the film see “Warrior” as sitting firmly at the intersection of the sentiments and stories at the heart of “Miracle” and “Pride and Glory.” “Gavin brought an energy and a populist quality to ‘Miracle’ that had you standing on your feet cheering at the end of the movie, despite the fact that you knew exactly what was going to happen,” explains producer Greg O’Connor.  “He’s an All-American college linebacker.  He understands camaraderie, how sports work.  ‘Pride and Glory’ was sort of an evolution of Gavin’s style – a very intense, muscular cop movie, a hard ‘R’ where ‘Miracle’ was meant for a broad audience.” Greg O’Connor points out that “Warrior” combines the best of both of these films.  “We get the investment in the sport and the on-your-feet cheering response from ‘Miracle,’ but also the drama – the story of a father-son relationship getting torn apart and put back together again –, with some of the grit of ‘Pride and Glory.’ That makes this the perfect movie for Gavin.”

“Warrior” is a rousing ode to redemption, reconciliation and the power of the human spirit, a moving testament to the enduring bonds of family.

Lionsgate’s “Warrior,” another SM Exclusive is showing in all SM Cinemas nationwide starting September 28.

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