Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte) has made the decision finally clean up his life. He’s been sober for nearly 1000 days, has reconnected with his Catholic faith, and occupies his mind by listening to audiobooks. Paddy was an abusive drunk, and his wife left him when their boys were young, taking youngest Tommy with her. After his mother passed away, Tommy joined the Marines, and hasn’t really had any contact with his father for the past 14 years. Tommy (Tom Hardy) never really forgave his father for what he did, and so when he returns to Philly and sees his father, he doesn’t believe that Paddy has really changed. Tommy joins a local gym where he learns of the upcoming MMA Sparta competition—a 16-match, winner-takes-all mixed martial arts competition with a prize of $5 million. He wants to win the money to give to the widow of a fallen soldier, and so he reluctantly asks his father to help train him.

Meanwhile, Tommy’s older brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) and his wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison) are in danger of losing their home. When he became a father, Brendan gave up his past as a UFC fighter to become a high school physics teacher. He was forced to remortgage his home when his daughter needed heart surgery and is now in desperate need of money. Brendan starts moonlighting at some amateur fights to make some quick cash. However, when one of his students sees him, word gets back to the school administrators, who suspend him for the rest of the semester. With plenty of free time on his hands, and with his wife’s blessing, Brendan decides to put his old skills back to use. He seeks out old friend/gym owner Frank Campana (Frank Grillo), who agrees to help him train. Brendan initially plans on just making some quick cash at some small venues, but soon sets his sights on the big prize money of the MMA Sparta tournament.

These estranged brothers are on a collision course, destined to be reunited in the fighting cage, and forced to deal with issues from their past they’ve tried to suppress or forget. Brendan, the son who stayed with their father when their mother left, is still upset that Paddy was more invested in Tommy than in him. Paddy only cared about the front-runner and not the underdog, and Tommy was his prized undefeated wrestler who got all the attention when they were younger. However, Tommy also still holds a grudge with his father. Now, Paddy must try to make amends to his sons and repair these long broken relationships.

Warrior is certainly reminiscent of the film Rocky. The film sets up some compelling characters, and some really dramatic relationships between father and son, and brother and brother. The film takes us on an emotional journey as we see these characters come together, and these two brothers train for the fight, each hoping to win the prize money for his own righteous cause. There’s also this montage of the two brothers each training in his own way that kind of reminded me of the Rocky/van Drago montages (though not that drastic). The film does such a great job at making you care about both of these brothers that I didn’t know which one I wanted to see win when they inevitably come face to face in the cage.

The film builds to a thoroughly entertaining final act with the Sparta competition—it is both action-packed and highly emotional. The fight sequences are quite intense and feel so raw and authentic. The filmmakers have really brought this world of MMA fighting to life. Each of the characters has a unique fighting style that matches their personality. Tommy is the military hero who attacks his opponents with quick, hard precision. While Brendan is the scrappy underdog, pouring his heart and soul into his fights, doing everything in the name of supporting his family.

The performances are excellent. Both Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton deliver stellar dramatic performances while also coming off as believable MMA fighters. Nick Nolte also gives an amazing dramatic performance which deservedly received an Academy Award nomination.

While this new 4K UHD disc provides some slightly increased detail and improvements over the original Blu-ray presentation, it is certainly not going to be a reference disc. The Blu-ray has some scenes with excessive film grain and that is also evident in the UHD version as well. Some of the indoor scenes, particularly those in Paddy’s home, have a yellow-green tone to them, giving the film more of a 60s or 70s look. At first I wasn’t sure if the film was supposed to have taken place in the past. There was also a bit of black crush in these scenes. Fortunately this is not an indication of how the rest of the film looks. The fight scenes look excellent, and you can see every cut and bruise on the fighters’s faces. The 4K UHD release also features an excellent new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. It not only provides clear dialogue, but also an immersive experience during the fight scenes, with the sounds of the roaring crowd coming from all directions. The height channel is also utilized at one point for the sound of a helicopter flying overhead.

While there were no new bonus features created specifically for this release, there is still a lot of quality supplemental material included. The Blu-ray disc is exactly the same as the previous 2011 release, and contains all of the same bonus features. Most of the Blu-ray bonus material has also been ported over to the 4K UHD disc, except for the Blu-ray’s Enhanced Viewing Mode. The extras include an audio commentary, 79-minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, a deleted scene, and a gag reel.

This release comes with both a 4K UHD disc and a Blu-ray disc packed in standard UHD keepcase with a rounded-corner slipcover. The case also contains an insert with instructions to redeem an UltraViolet digital copy of the film. At the time of this review, Vudu was the only redemption option, and it only redeemed in HDX format, not 4K.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:19:54)

4K Ultra HD:

• 2160p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• HDR
• Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Optimized for Late-Night Listening, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Blu-ray:

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Digital HD (Code May Not Be Valid After 10/24/2018):

• Digital HD copy redeemable via Vudu

Extras:
The 4K UHD disc does not include any new supplemental material, but most of the Blu-ray features from the 2011 Blu-ray have been ported over. The exclusions/differences are noted below.

• Audio Commentary with Filmmakers And Joel Edgerton (2:19:54) Director/co-writer Gavin O’Connor, co-writer Anthony Tambakis, editor John Gilroy and actor Joel Edgerton (“Brendan Conlon”) provide an interesting and entertaining commentary throughout the film. They talk about the music, cast, the title card’s homage to Rocky, the fight sequences and more. They provide a lot of interesting anecdotes and stories. Tom Hardy didn’t participate because he was busy filming Batman at the time.
• Redemption: Bringing Warrior to Life Documentary (31:57)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about the characters and themes of the film. They discuss the story, the setting, the cast, the training regimen and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with director/co-producer/co-screenwriter Gavin O’Connor, co-producer/co-screenwriter Anthony Tambakis, stunt coordinator/fight choreographer J.J. Perry, fighter Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, executive producer John J. Kelly, Tapout crew Tim ‘Sky Scrape’ Katz & Dan ‘Punkass’ Caldwell, editor John Gilroy, and actors Tom Hardy (“Tom Conlon”), Joel Edgerton (“Brendan Conlon”), Jennifer Morrison (“Tess Conlon”), Nick Nolte (“Paddy Conlon”), Frank Grillo (“Frank Campana”), Kurt Angle (“Koba”), Nate ‘The Great’ Marquardt (“Karl Kruller”), and Josh Rosenthal (“Announcer”).
• Philosophy in Combat: Mixed Martial Arts Strategy (21:07)
  Filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico in August 2001, MMA trainer Greg Jackson and actor Frank Grillo reunite to discuss mixed martial arts and reminisce about their experiences working on the film. Includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage from the production.
• Brother vs. Brother: Anatomy of the Fight (11:55)
  As the final climactic fight between Brendan and Tommy plays out in the corner of the screen, the storyboards and live action pre-visualization shots used to plan out the sequence are displayed in the main screen.
• Simply Believe: A Tribute to Charles “Mask” Lewis, Jr. (13:58)
  The filmmakers, trainers and fighters reminisce about Tapout co-found Charles “Mask” Lewis, Jr., who helped with the pre-production of the film, but passed away before the filming began.
• Cheap Shots: Gag Reel (3:58)
  The actors play a prank on Frank Grillo, the fight commentators have fun improvising, some dancing on set, and actor Bryan Callen has fun while filming one of the post-fight scenes.
• The Diner: Deleted Scene (with Optional Commentary) (3:02)
  Deleted scene with Tommy (Tom Hardy) and Paddy (Nick Nolte) talking and eating in a diner. In the optional commentary, the filmmakers discuss the reason that the scene was ultimately cut was due to pacing.
• Full Contact: Feature Length Enhanced Viewing Mode* (2:19:54)
  (Blu-ray Only) As the film plays back in a corner of the screen, director/producer/co-screenwriter Gavin O’Connor welcomes various cast and crew to join him in a real mixed martial arts octagon fighting cage to provide a video commentary on the film. The footage of the participants is intercut with behind-the-scenes footage. Participants include Nick Nolte (“Paddy Conlon”), co-screenwriter/co-producer Anthony Tambakis, Maximiliano Hernández (“Colt Boyd”), asst. stunt coordinator Fernando Chien (“Fenroy”), sound re-recording mixer Christian P. Minkler, sound effect/sound re-recorsing mixer Marl A. Mangini, music composer Mark Isham, Tapout crew Dan ‘Punkass’ Caldwell & Timothy ‘Skyscrape’ Katz, and Warrior: Full Contact director Jon Mefford.

Final Thoughts:

Warrior is not only a moving dramatic film, but also an exciting mixed martial arts film, and the actors give stellar performances on both fronts. While the UHD provides excellent immersive audio, the video presentation is a bit of a mixed bag. The excessive grain from the original Blu-ray presentation is still present at times, while other scenes feature a nice uptick in detail. While there are no new bonus features for this release, most of the material from original Blu-ray have been ported over to the UHD disc. If you already own the Blu-ray, I’m not sure if it’s worth the upgrade. However, if you don’t already own a copy of the film, this is certainly the version to get.