Review of Warrior

So you go to rent a movie.  It's all checked out, on blu ray AND standard dvd.  You look around to see how much it is to purchase it.  It's all sold out, on blu ray and dvd.  You go to Walmart.  It's all sold out.  You go to the other Walmart (yes we have two in my town).  They're all sold out.  Now either this is a much sought after movie or maybe I made its existence up in my head.  This is how my experience trying to get a copy of Warrior went. 
When I finally did watch it, I was not disappointed at all.  I will now publicly admit that I really like the Rocky movies.  Not so much the one where he teaches the kid to fight, but all the others, yeah I like those.  However, I do recognize that they're not really good movies.  The dialogue is pretty bad, the acting is pretty bad, but you cheer for Rocky, you cry for Mickey and Apollo, and you hate Russia and Brigitte Nielsen.  Alright, maybe you hate Brigitte cause her and Flava Flav were nasty.  But still, you cheer Rocky on.
Warrior is like Rocky, but actually good, not just guilty pleasure good.  Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte should get nominated for this movie.  But they probably won't because the Academy doesn't like movies that regular people do (ie Dark Knight), blah blah.  They're so genuine and make you care about them so much.  It seems not enough movies have that anymore.  The director, Gavin O'Connor, hasn't really done anything note-worthy, but I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of his movies.
The story pits brother against brother and father against son against son.  At the start of the movie I was wondering who I'm going to be cheering for, since I have a brain and could deduce from the cover and character introductions what was ultimately going to happen.  But it doesn't matter that you know, because the story is so surprising and the characters so captivating.  If you finish this movie and think, "Ugh, it was so predictable," first of all I think you're partially lying, and second of all you missed the point. 
The two different paths and journeys that the brothers are on come to a head at an MMA tournament.  During the first 2/3's of the movie they set up Brenden's (Edgerton) story so completely that you begin to wonder how you can ever root for his brother Tommy (Hardy).  But during the few days of the tournament the truth and lies of Tommy's life erupt out.  And his first fight in the tournament is so awesome you might cheer for him based on bad-assness (yeah it's probably not a word, get over it) alone.  During his fights it's obvious why he is playing Bane in the next Batman movie. Dude's got some pent up aggression.
Like I said before, if you have a brain, you know how the ending begins.  But the torment of it playing out is intense.  I cried. Yeah, during Warrior.  Cause I was so happy at one point.  Men fighting for family.  It'll getcha every time.
If you think the ending is not cleaned up enough, or has too many loose ends, you missed out on the bigger themes.  It's about the characters journey to that point.  And I like that the ending isn't necessarily a happy fairytale everyone-lives-in-a-castle type of ending.  It's a movie about hope.  And hope sells, not quite as well as sex, but it sells.
Just a forewarning, after watching this movie you may think that being an MMA fighter is a good idea (I did.), I'm going to go ahead and say that you're wrong.  You would cry and try to climb out of the cage, and just embarrass yourself.  I watched this movie a week ago and still haven't been able to find it for purchase on blu ray.  Seriously people, restock your shelves!