Warrior

From the outside this looks like a film with a hard edge. Family drama, alcoholism and mixed martial arts. Now throw in director Gavin O’Connor (Pride & Glory) and you might be expecting a tough 140 minutes (yep, 140 minutes) in the cinema. Its credit to O’Connor then that his film does not beat you mercilessly into submission, but tells its story in a much softer manner than you would expect. Warriors would actually be a more apt name for the production as we follow brothers Tommy (Tom Hardy) and Brendan (Joel Edgerton) who both find themselves competing in the same fight tournament. How they got there though forms the backbone of the film and each has a very different story to tell. There is some high drama here as the back story of the two brothers and their own estranged relationship is explained between bouts and the performance of Nick Nolte as their father is heart breaking. Films such as these are two handers, where the action in the ring has to be matched by the drama outside it. Hardy and Edgerton both look the part when it comes to the fight scenes and after reading about the numerous injuries they both suffered during filming its clear the testosterone must have been flying. On the dramatic front though Edgerton wins hands down, however that’s mainly due to him having the broader written character compared to Hardy’s mumbler. One problem the film can’t escape though is its convoluted plotting, with too many plot machinations to be believable. Plus Brendan, despite taking a pummelling in virtually every fight he's in, somehow manages to storm back every time and triumph mainly due to the advice from his corner to “breath”. Hmm, I’ll have to remember that the next time I’m having a dust up with Mark Coleman. Overall though, this is a good film and it’s a shame then that this has been such a box office disaster. It’s unclear as to why, but despite good notices so far neither Hardy or Edgerton are top box office draws yet. However, come the climatic showdown though (can you guess between who?) you’ll be rooting for neither man to lose and be marvelling at the fact that the 2 hour plus running has felt only half of what it is.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Clichéd scripting, but three winning performances from the leads make for some entertaining tough love. Rating: 7/10.

What's Your Number?

What’s Your Number? is one of those films where you already know exactly what’s going to happen throughout the film, and its conclusion is already known to its audience by the phrase “romcom”. It’s also one of those films that’ll have the male population running a mile. However, any blokes that do get dragged along will still be entertained as, despite there being nothing original here, there are still enough gags to go round and a winning performance from Anna Faris to enjoy. In the film Faris plays Ally, a woman who after reading an article about sexual partners decides not to sleep with anyone else unless they are the “one”. In addition, she attempts to track down her ex-notches on the bedposts in order to see how they are now and if any of them could have been said love of her life. Helping her out is Colin (Chris Evans) who, get this, is a musician in a struggling band but just also conveniently happens to be an expert in tracking people down. Only in the movies, folks. As is the wont of the modern romcom this has a few crude moments to have you squirming, but it isn’t overloaded with them and the film aims more for laughs based on verbals rather than actions. Faris is a weird actress to watch and how you feel about this film may actually depend on whether you find her cute as a button or annoying as hell. There isn’t much middle ground, really. Personally, I doff my hat to her in this as she always appears game for anything and provides plenty of charm that is missing from similar by the numbers productions. There are negatives of course, with the worse being Ally’s discussions with her girlfriends and their toe-curlingly unnatural dialogue bringing to mind the worse of Sex and The City. Evans doesn’t do much and is a bit of a personality vacuum throughout, though the target audience won’t be disappointed to see him wandering about the film in various states of undress. This is director Mark Mylod’s first feature and with a heavy background in TV he knows enough to move the story along as quick as possible, though this is probably a by-product of not having much to work with script wise. All in all, not as bad as you’d think, but certainly nothing new.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Faris is the best thing here and to be fair to all involved this doesn’t claim to be anymore then it sets out to be. Rating: 6/10.