Someone give Nick Nolte an Oscar for ‘Warrior’

American audiences have had their fill of fighting movies over the last couple of years. From Mickey Rourke’s Oscar-nominated performance in The Wrestler to the unforgettable turns by Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in last year’s The Fighter, punches have been thrown and moviegoers have responded with genuine anticipation and sometimes even tears.

Now comes Warrior, a film directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring actors who are far from household names. The movie instantly begs the question: Do we need another fight film? More montages? More gruff trainers in the corner? More ultimate matches with inspirational instrumental music?

Do we really need another round?

After watching Warrior, the answer is surprisingly yes. This 140-minute movie is as good as any of its predecessors, and, more importantly, it features some of the most impressive acting performances of the year. All three of the leads are perfectly cast, and the story, which involves a mixed martial arts tournament, produces energetic bouts, dramatic plot points and compelling characters.

This one may be the sleeper of the fall season.

Joel Edgerton plays Brendan Conlon, a high school physics teacher having a tough time paying the mortgage and taking care of his wife, Tess (Jessica Morrison), and their three children. When the bank tells him he’s three months away from foreclosure, Brendan decides to take his fate into his own hands.

Although estranged from his alcoholic father, Paddy (Nick Nolte in his finest role in a decade), Brendan still uses some of the fighting skills he learned from the old man when growing up. In a small ring set up in the parking lot of a go-go bar, the high school teacher enrolls in a mixed martial arts fight and actually takes down his opponent and wins $500. Maybe there’s a lucrative side to getting one’s face bashed in.

Though he’s ready for his next MMA bout, the principal (Kevin Dunn) and superintendent of his high school are none-too-pleased that one of their teachers is getting beat up after school hours. It takes one fight and Brendan finds himself suspended without pay. The mortgage payment and foreclosure loom heavy on his heart.

While this all takes place in Philadelphia, we come to learn that Paddy is living in the old neighborhood in Pittsburgh. After coming home from church and getting ready to celebrate his 100th day of sobriety, the old man receives a visit from a stranger: his other son, Tommy (Tom Hardy, in a fiery performance), who has skipped out on the Marines and headed home.

Although he will never forgive his father for what he did to their mother, Tommy sticks around and asks his pop to train him one last time.

It’s never expressly stated what Paddy did to Brendan, Tommy and their mother in the past, but because of the brothers’ shared resentment, it probably was awfully violent.

As Tommy trains in Pittsburgh, Brendan trains in Philadelphia. They both are getting ready for Sparta, a last-man-standing MMA tournament in Atlantic City where the winner takes home $5 million. Brendan desperately needs the cash for his house, while Tommy wants to win the grand prize for the family of a fallen Marine he was close to in Iraq.

Although Warrior follows a tried-and-true cinematic rubric, it always feels fresh and gritty and intense. O’Connor, who co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman, lets the characters blossom slowly and realistically. Each is given the time to breathe and struggle, which is so rare in sports films. Too often, the story is relegated to cliché plot points and triumphant endings. Warrior is a cut above the rest, deciding to couple conventional storytelling with palpable drama and thoughtful characterization.

It doesn’t hurt that the movie is based on a true story.

The three actors who command the spotlight for more than two hours were expertly chosen for these roles. They own the characters to the point where it’s difficult to see any other person in their respective parts.

Edgerton wins over the audience with the obvious love for his children and wife. He’s a good-hearted man with a sordid past; he’s a father who has no qualms letting his daughters paint his cheeks like a princess.

Tommy, on the other hand, is a dark, brooding person, and Hardy plays the part with no frills or exaggerations. He holds his hurt somewhere deep within his pscyhe, and when it surfaces, typically in the ring, the consequences are violent and bloody.

Nolte may be the best of the three as he offers his richest role since The Good Thief. He not only brings the redemptive father and the raspy-voiced trainer to the character of Paddy, but he also brings a history. There’s much mystery in the film on what exactly Paddy did to his sons to earn their distrust and genuine hatred. Nolte plays with that mystery, showing on his face that he’s walked many miles and committed many sins. His only solace is listening to an audio recording of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

All of the fight sequences are nicely choreographed. O’Connor, who also directed Kurt Russell in Miracle, has a natural way with sports scenes. He doesn’t shy away from the obvious spectacle, but he also constantly comes back to the personal level. While Tommy and Brendan make their way through the competitors, he chooses to focus in on the characters, registering the pain and triumph coming through their eyes.

It should come as no surprise that Tommy and Brendan make it to the final round in the Sparta tournament. There’s a sense of the inevitable from the very first scene in Warrior. But because we believe in these brothers and their despondent father, the ultimate fight is even more dramatic, and satisfying, than the punches that fly and the tears that fall.

Warrior is a top contender for movie of the year.

• Warrior

• 2011

• Directed by Gavin O’Connor

• Written by O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman; based on a story by O’Connor and Dorfman

• Starring Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison and Frank Grillo

• Running time: 140 minutes

• Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense mixed martial arts fighting, some language and thematic material

• Rating:

• Click here to purchase Warrior on DVD.