This Isn't Your Average Title Fight

I went through a period where I watched a bit of mixed martial arts.  I can respect the absolute peak physical shape the fighters must be in to repeatedly go up against men potentially as strong and perhaps more skilled than they are. The fighting is brutal and raw, often leaving men looking like tenderized meat.  The skill each man must train to achieve is undeniable.  "Warrior" has a plot centered in the world of mixed martial arts and respects those attributes as well; but it's also a gripping film about wounded relationships and the strength of family.  I went in expecting to see a movie about fighting and experienced a great deal more.  This is the best picture of the year.

It goes without saying that a movie like "Warrior" needs some talented actors and real emotion to work. The film provides both with an earnest screenplay and three of the year's best performances.  The film has been directed by Gavin O'Connor, whose "Miracle" is one of the quintessential films of the sports genre.  He also co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman.  In a simple fighting film, this script might seem more substantial than it needs to be.  One of the great pleasures of "Warrior" is that it is not a simple fighting film.  The writing here establishes what it must without saying more than necessary.  This allows the key actors to fill in the gaps and keep us engaged.

The plot involves three men from an estranged family.  Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte) was at one time an alcoholic with a violent temper.  As he nears 1,000 days sober, he is surprised to see his youngest son, Tommy (Tom Hardy) appear on his doorstep.  Tommy may have one or two secrets buried beneath his shabby exterior.  That he does not reveal them is a wise choice of the screenplay; the revelations come from the action.  Tommy's brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is struggling to make ends meet as a high school physics teacher.  He has a nice family that he'd like to be able to support and provide a home for.  Circumstances are against him.  Both brothers are skilled fighters, perhaps from years of necessary self-defense from their father.  Each hold resentment toward Paddy for the same reason, but Tommy has his own good reason for feeling like he made a harder choice, and for that, he resents Brendan also.

The first act takes time establishing each of these men's lives and setting up the circumstances that require them to step into the cage again.  Brendan's reason is clear from the outset, but Tommy seems driven by an unknown rage.  I won't reveal his need, because that revelation comes late in the third act and holds great emotional power.  Hardy's performance could easily be a front-runner for the Oscars because it requires him to carry the film's most complex range of motivation.  I read interviews recently where he admitted to having had struggles in the past, and if he brings some of that experience to this performance, it serves him well.  Joel Edgerton is a native Australian, and further proves that they train them well down under.  If the movie has a conventional lead, he would be it, but that requires much more than it might suggest.  Nick Nolte figures into two vital scenes that provide "Warrior" its most shattering moments.  Those scenes involve each son saying exactly what they feel they need to say to a man diminished by his mistakes; Nolte's reactions and desperate behavior are devastating.

I believe the trailers make it clear that Brendan and Tommy must eventually face one another in the film's climactic fight scene.  The sequences leading up to this moment build with insurmountable pressure and almost unbearable tension.  It is too easy to say you want them both to win; the circumstances provided each man make it so that each NEEDS to win.  The fight scenes are choreographed well and look as I remember them looking on television.  The physicality of the fighters is intimidating.  Gavin O'Connor clearly has an affectionate understanding of the sport and knows how to situate these men for the most dramatic and tense effect. The camera angles early on perhaps aren't set up in the most effective way, but the shots widen out as the movie proceeds to the climax, so perhaps this was intentional to reflect the progression of the fights.  For anyone weary about gratuitous violence, "Warrior" plays it pretty safe.  The matches are brutal, yes, but these men are fighting with more than just their bodies, they are fighting for an honor that both have earned.  You take immense interest in the result because of what each has to lose and what it would mean to win.

 "Warrior" is about as close to perfect as a film can be.  Its authenticity and tender affection for its characters give it an emotionally resonate core and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see many audiences tearing up at least once.  I did several times and while it has the good regard to leave many tough guys reduced to tears, it left me with raised spirits.  I certainly hope to see it nominated for best picture and at the very least, two nominations for acting.  It would be ironic if Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton were nominated against each other for best actor although they deserve nothing less. A more conventional picture about cage fighting might have me leaving the theatre wanting to start a fight. If that is what you want to feel after a movie, "Warrior" is not the one you should see.  When I walked out of the theatre, I just wanted to hug my dad and brother.

And It Wasn't A Monkey's Fault This Time

Steven Soderbergh is somewhat of a veteran director of the multiple-narrative structure of filmmaking.  His "Traffic" is an exceptional meditation on the drug war and its bleak outlook toward a solution.  It was full of A-listers and was shot with a grainy look to symbolize the griddiness of the drug trade.  Soderbergh now gives us "Contagion," which follows the outbreak of a nasty biological threat through a similar narrative structure, but ditches the soft, grainy look in favor of glorious high definition.  It is a thriller of startling effeciency and showcases a top-tier cast of characters to show us that nobody is immune to fear.

If you think about it, the virus thriller is really a perfect fit for a fractured narrative.  By following mutliple characters, some getting more time than others, it highlights the urgent nature of a global threat: everyone is at risk.  The movie opens on Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), looking ill and dipping her hand into the peanuts at an airport bar.  A few other individuals in a variety of countries seem to be ill also and Soderbergh follows each in a tense montage of the carriers touching and variously interacting with the environment.  It is a striking reminder of just how disgusting public places can be.  Without giving anything away, let's just say that once Beth gets home, the serious nature of this virus takes hold in a series of tragic events.  These provide "Contagion" with its most terrifying moments.  What follows is a gradual global awareness that eventually requires immediate action from the CDC and the World Health Organization.

The ensemble cast filling out the health officials is impressive.  I was most intrigued by Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Ellis Cheever, a superior at the Center for Disease Control.  His scenes involve assuredly handling multiple strands of information while he struggles to make sense of the devastation caused by the disease.  Part of the challenge is keeping a lid on any information that is uncertain so that global panic can be avoided.  The human antagonist here, if the film has one, is Alan Krumwiede, a sensationalist blogger played with savvy by Jude Law.  His internet blogs provide millions of viewers with paranoid theories about a cure for the virus and the "lies" coming from the CDC.  The fear generated from this causes outbreaks of rioting, mobbing and more death because people look in the wrong direction for a cure.

All of this is shot with steadiness by Soderbergh, who also works as his own cinematographer.  No queasy- cam effects here, which is to our benefit and makes it all the more startling to watch it unfold.  It is easy to draw up comparison to "Outbreak," Wolfgang Petersen's 1995 take on the virus thriller.  The film had a more conventional structure and "Contagion" seems to have been marketed in such a way as to come across as too conventional.  That it isn't is a great pleasure for its audience because it unfolds with perception and relatable human behavior.  Watch the scene where Matt Damon's character is told some horrifying news.  His immediate reaction is denial and utter inability to comprehend what has been told to him.  This may be hard to watch for audience members who have lost a loved one.  Matt Damon is an in-demand actor with a high profile in the movies these days.  His performance here shows us exactly why.

Other key players come and go in various ways.  I enjoyed Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) who is given assignment by Dr. Cheever to set up a unit in Beth Emhoff's hometown to stop the spread of the disease.  She gets perhaps more than she bargained for with some of the town's officials and the nature of the disease itself.  We also meet Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), an official from the W.H.O.  Admittedly, Cotillard gets the least amount of screen time of all the main players, which is a shame because she is so radiant.  Some reviews claim she is wasted.  In fact, her character is most vital to the plot considering she is sent to Hong Kong to trace the origin of the virus.  It is the contrived subplot she is thrust into that is a waste.  It is easily the film's weakest element and isn't very believable.  Jennifer Ehle also deserves praise for her performance as the CDC Doctor who develops the eventual vaccine.

"Contagion" is a thinking person's thriller.  If you expect a thrill-a-minute action movie full of worldly devastation, you may come away disappointed.  What Steven Soderbergh provides is a startling examination of the procedures and human emotions involved with facing a highly lethal biological enemy.  It plays like an urgent news cast, cutting between locations and characters as they stumble to figure out a global pandemic.  There is a sequence at the end of the movie that traces the origin of the virus; this knowledge is for the benefit of the audience and is never discovered by any of the characters.  Soderbergh didn't have to provide this sequence but it is a comfort.  Here is a scary thought: if the events of this movie happened in real life, we wouldn't get that happy ending.