Warrior is an extraordinary movie. It is, on one level, a family story. Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) returns home to Philadelphia after 14 years. The Iraq War veteran goes to see his long-estranged father Paddy (Nick Nolte) to ask a favor. He wants Paddy to train him for Sparta, a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event with a $5 million purse soon to take place in Atlantic City.

Paddy is a recovering alcoholic approaching 1,000 days of sobriety and he hasn’t seen Tommy since his ex-wife ran away with Tommy to escape Paddy’s drunken brutality. Now, Tommy needs his father, but he has neither forgotten nor forgiven his childhood. Paddy, in turn, is feeling very guilty and wants to make up for the past.

Also involved in the story is Brendan (Joel Edgerton), Tommy’s older brother, who was left behind when his mother left with Tommy. Despite his desire to become an MMA pro, Brendan became a teacher. When his school’s administration learned that he’d been fighting in underground events on the side, he is fired. So, needing to pay the bills, and still wanting to fight, Brendan decides to enter Sparta himself and, working with his trainer Frank (Frank Grillo) he gets the grudging approval of his wife Tess (Jennifer Morrison) and goes into training. Of course, Tommy and Brendan face each other in the Sparta ring.

What could be a hokey, predictable story is, in fact, riveting. Director Gavin O’Connor keeps the tension going, the relationships real and the audience on the edge of their seats.

Before March, when I saw Warrior at CinemaCon, if you had suggested that I’d ever want to see a film about MMA fighters and, after I’d seen it if I’d ever say it was extraordinary, I’d have suggested you were hallucinating. But, I did and it is.

Almost six months after seeing it, the characters and story are still sharply etched in my mind. Nick Nolte gives the performance of his career. Australian actor Edgerton — who is next to be seen as Tom Buchanan in the new version of The Great Gatsby — and the British Hardy — who will be the villain in the next Batman film — will be major stars when Warrior is seen.

Warrior is not a pretty, neat movie and is not always easy to watch. But it should by all means be seen.