History Film / Warrior

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Brendan gets the 5 million dollars he needs and wins the competition]] but Tommy gets very little closure and is about to face some serious charges. Their father's off the wagon (Tommy's fault), although it might just be a lapse, and seems to realize that keeping his distance is the best thing to do, rehabilitation or no, so he gets to keep being lonely. Tommy does seem to have forgiven Brendan and accepts him as a brother.

* DysfunctionJunction: Paddy is a lonely recovering alcoholic, Tommy has PTSD (and a lot of chips on his shoulders) and Brendan has inferiority and abandonment issues.

** MadDog Grimes crushes his sparring partner, [[KickTheDog needlessly without any reason]].

* DysfunctionalFamily: The Conlons have shades of this. However Brendan's family is amazingly functional.

Unrelated to the [[{{Comicbook/Warrior}} comic book]].

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Tommy inflicts an utterly savage one of these on Mad Dog Grimes, leaving him unconscious. The commentators seem shocked at the sheer brutality and even Tommy's manager calls for the fight to be stopped, likely out of a not unjustified fear that Tommy would beat Mad Dog to death if not stopped.

* SimpleYetAwesome: In contrast to Tommy who tends to rely on his strength and takes opponents out quickly, Brendan's fighting style consists of using all of his skills to put his opponents in knee-bars where he causes excruciating pain until they tap out. It even works against Koba who has never been defeated prior.

* PantyShot: Tess gets one, though without the associated MaleGaze. Probably justified as she was in bed.

* AdultFear: Several. All are TruthInTelevision in fact.
** Tess perfectly represents the reluctant wife of a fighter whose husband competes in a BloodSport in order to keep their family afloat.
** The Conlon men perfectly show perhaps the very worst thing that can happen to a DysfunctionalFamily: having them very distant to you and despise you.
** Unlike Tess above, Paddy defies the "seeing your children compete in a BloodSport" fear and even encourage them, or at least Tommy, to do it. [[spoiler: Once his sons compete against each other at the finals, he plays the "my kids are hurting each other really bad" fear ''completely'' straight.]]

* MadeOfIron: While this is standard for any professional fighter, Brendan's incredible capacity to endure pain and keep fighting is noted as exceptional even by MMA standards, especially in his fight with Koba.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Brendan like Tommy is a newcomer to the tournament but unlike Tommy who has a lot of fame due to his video and trouncing his opponents. It doesn't help that Brendan is pinned against known and well prized fighter like Koba while Tommy has a pretty easy line up.

* TheAtoner: Paddy to his sons.

* BrokenAce: Tommy.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Tommy inflicts an utterly savage one of these on Mad Dog Grimes, leaving hum unconscious. The commentators seem shocked at the sheer brutality and even Tommy's manager calls for the fight to be stopped.

* RedOniBlueOni: Mommy is the red to Brendan's blue. Their gloves are ColorCodedForYourConvenience.

* TigerVersusDragon: Like the tiger Tommy uses strength and force to brutally and quickly knock out his opponents while Brendan uses brazillian ju-jitsu in order to use force grapppling submisions on his opponents which is like the dragon as they are more calm and calculating than the tiger because the tiger would have a fixation on brutality and effectiveness in combat.
* TournamentArc

* RealityEnsues:
** Brendan's fighting career gets him in trouble at his regular teaching position and he shows up to work with bruises from fights.
** Also Brendan's first onscreen fight is with an UnskilledButStrong DumbMuscle who has a very slight weight advantage on him. As a former MMA fighter still in good shapecondition, Brendan trounces him.
** Tommy went MIA during a military mission. When it is revealed to the world that he went AWOL for personal reasons, however noble, the military police show up to arrest him.
** Tommy as expected initially has the edge in his fight with Brendan. But once his arm gets dislocated, try as he might, he has no hope of winning.

** Also Brendan's first onscreen fight is with an UnskilledButStrong DumbMuscle who has a very slight weight advantage on him. As a former MMA fighter still in good shapecondition, Brendan tosses him.

* CurbStompBattle: Tommy overwhelms all of his early opponents with superior speed and power, quickly defeating them in brutal fashion. His fighting style highlights his role as the AntiVillain of the film.

* RealityEnsues: Brendan's fighting career gets him in trouble at his regular teaching position and he shows up to work with bruises from fights.
* RedOniBlueOni: Tommy is the red to Brendan's blue. Their gloves are ColorCodedForYourConvenience.

* AwesomeYetPractical: In contrast to Tommy who tends to rely on his strength and takes opponents out quickly, Brendan's fighting style consists of using all of his skills to put his opponents in knee-bars where he causes excruciating pain until they tap out. It even works against Koba who has never been defeated prior.

* AwesomeButPractical: In contrast to Tommy who tends to rely on his strength and takes opponents out quickly, Brendan's fighting style consists of using all of his skills to put his opponents in knee-bars where he causes excruciating pain until they tap out. It even works against Koba who has never been defeated prior.

When Tommy left, his elder brother Brendan (Edgerton) stayed in Pittsburgh for the sake of his future wife. He is a former UFC fighter, but has retired and now teaches high school physics. He's having trouble making ends meet however, and his house is on the brink of foreclosure, so he starts fighting again to supplement his income. Turns out the school board doesn't approve of him moonlighting as a cage fighter, so he ends up suspended without pay from his teaching position. He knows it's a longshot, but if he can win the Sparta tournament, he'd be able to keep his house. This, of course, puts him on a collision course with Tommy, who still resents him for staying in Pittsburgh while Tommy took care of their ailing mother.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: A classic example. [[spoiler: Tommy can't set aside his resentment towards Brendan until Brendan reluctantly gives him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Brendan only does it because Tommy's fighting despite a dislocated arm and needs to be subdued quickly or else risk more intense injury fighting. While choking him out, Brendan asks for forgiveness in anguish and tells Tommy he loves him (keeping in mind Tommy had just gleefully tried to punch the life out of Brendan), at which point Tommy finally taps out and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming they embrace as brothers]]]].

* CooldownHug: At the end. A CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and a TearJerker all wrapped up in one.

* AwesomeYetPractical: In contrast to Tommy who tends to rely on his strength and takes opponents out quickly, Brendan's fighting style consists of using all of his skills to put his opponents in knee-bars where he causes excruciating pain until they tap out. It even works against Koba who has never been defeated prior.