WHAT A MOVIE!

Last night I took in a private screening of the Lionsgate film, "WARRIOR", starring Nick Nolte with a few close friends.  Going into the screening, I confess, I didn't know much about what I would be seeing except that it had something to do with MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).  Most reviews that I'd gotten from people who had seen it were positive ones, with most of them comparing this film to "Rocky".  So I was excited to see for myself what the big fuss was.

What I ended up seeing was an intense, entertaining film about an estranged family (father and two sons, both former amateur wrestlers), each with their own set of skeletons in the closet. When one son appears out of nowhere after being out of touch for years, his presence opens a lot of old wounds for all involved, causing a struggle to address long-simmering issues.

Add to the storyline a unique MMA tournament that both brothers end up entering, unbeknownst to one another and you have an action-packed movie that keeps you hooked for the whole time.  Sure there's some hokey sentiment sprinkled in but then again, "Rocky" had the same kind of hokey sentiment.  But you can't help but to get sucked in.  Fight scenes are realistic (granted, I'm not MMA expert but they looked pretty realistic to me), and you definitely found yourself pulling for both brothers, but for different reasons.  Pretty cool cameo by Kurt Angle too.

I highly recommend you check out "WARRIOR".  While it won't win any Oscars, it certainly won't bore you either.