When you sit down to watch Warrior you know what the last scenes are going to be, it's obvious, clichéd and on paper the storylines are really cheesy, but after saying that they have managed to create a film which captures raw emotion is exciting and has you routing for an underdog and the American hero.

The Underdog is Brendon (Edgerton) the family man who after paying out for his daughter  heart surgeries cannot afford the payments on his house, so He and his wife are both work 2 jobs, but what she doesn't know if that he isn't a bouncer he is fighting in amateur fights.

Tommy (Hardy) is the American war hero who has returned home to his alcoholic father and wants his help to start training for Sparta the MMA fight with a 5million dollar prize. After footage of Tommy knocking out one of the MMA fighters in a training session goes viral, Tommy get's a place to fight in Sparta.

Brendon is just training for amateur fights, no way he could fight in Sparta, but his trainer is training another fighter for Sparta, I wonder what would happen if that fight injured himself? Do you see where this is going? Yes Brendon takes his place.

To add more emotional to this fighting melodrama, Tommy and Brendon are actually estranged brothers, family betrayals and life choices have lead them down different paths but as they keep winner fights, it looks like they may have a reunion in the MMA cage.

As I said at the start this movie could have been incredible cheesy, but it's directed with raw energy, they melodrama storylines aren't performed in over the top dramatic sense, the film feels raw and does have emotion behind it, you are rooting for these two brothers and once they are in that ring together, who's side are you going to pick?

I recommend Warrior not only to MMA fans but to people who are fans of a good drama, I had two teenage girls next to me in the screening and they didn't seem to be enjoying the film at first and probably came just to see some man candy on the big screen but by the end of the film they were both in tears.

OUR DAY WILL COME is the story of Patrick (Vincent Cassel – BLACK SWAN, IRREVERSIBLE) and Remy (Olivier Barthelemy – THE BURMA CONSPIRACY, SHEITAN), outcasts joined together by their dislike of French society and their red hair. Patrick is a cynical therapist with a charismatic persona who is bored with listening to the mundane problems of his clients and longs for a situation he can manipulate for his amusement. This moment comes in the form of Remy, an awkward red haired teenager, bullied by his family and friends who use his red hair as a prime reason for their assaults on him.

After being pushed too far and hitting his mother, Remy runs away from home where he gets picked up by Patrick who is driving around town. The two hit it off straight away and Patrick offers Remy a ride to meet his girlfriend. When the girlfriend ends up being someone he didn’t expect Remy joins Patrick who persists to earn the boys trust. Patrick begins to push Remy into more and more extreme and violent scenarios in an attempt to meld the boy into what he wants and before long the goading unlocks both Remy’s longing for some kind of acceptance and his hidden lust for violence which leads the two men on a violent road trip of revenge as Remy decides to head to Ireland where redheads are accepted and the only place he thinks he can be openly accepted.

*SPOILERS ALERT*

OUR DAY WILL COME started of pretty strong. We meet Remy and Patrick, watching how a social outcast comes to live the life that Remy has been led into. We watch as the final nail is placed into Remy’s preverbal coffin, as we find that his potential girlfriend that he met on World of Warcraft is actually a man you can see why, with all the bullying and abuse he got previous to this revalation would make him want to run away.

The film focuses alot on Remy’s possible homosexuality, adding a sub plot to the story which made his character grow. This however is where the plot stays warm and what we have in the middle portion of the film is a cold and somewhat boring attempt at a violent road trip movie. You dislike Patrick during this time but this is due mostly to the fact that his characters persona changes into this character placed in from another film. I didn’t feel like the film was going anywhere exciting, when reading the plot synopsis I was promised violence and all i really got was a man getting it on with three American girls in a hotel. For an actor like Cassel, who did such a great job in BLACK SWAN, i expected alot more. The climax of the film did pick up though and we finally get a glimpse of Cassel’s great acting talent. When Remy finally goes nuts and starts attacking members of the public we get a real feel of what is going on inside his head.

Overall OUR DAY WILL COME was a bit of a slow drag of a film, with passable acting and a plot that went cold during the middle. If you are into your French drama’s then give it a go but this isn’t going to be a film everyone will enjoy.

Release date: August 22nd
Format: DVD & BLU-RAY
Running Time: 87 mins
Certificate: 18
RRP Price: (DVD) £15.99 (BLU-RAY) £21.99

World War II propaganda film WENT THE DAY WELL is another addition to the digitally resorted Optimum Classic range.

An adaptation of a short story titled THE LIEUTENANT DIED LAST by Grahame Greene (The bestselling author of such classic novels as BRIGHTON ROCK, THE END OF THE AFFAIR), WENT THE DAY WELL is the tale of undercover German paratroopers who, whilst disguised as British soldiers, plan to invade a small village. When found out the German Soldiers turn to plan B, taking the village by force.  Quietly the Villagers plan on how to get the word out the too the British army and save their village from German oppression.

Originally released in 1942, WENT THE DAY WELL still holds its own a decent black and white war time film. Personally I’m not a huge lover of the war time films of yesteryear however I would place WENT THE DAY WELL nicely with films such as THE GREAT ESCAPE and DAM BUSTERS. The film, for it’s time, seemed to have some pretty violent scenes (For example when one of the Village women takes an axe to one of the German soldiers) which runs alongside of the films message that ‘no-one messes with the English’.

The film stars some well know actors of that time including Leslie Banks (THE MAN WHO KNEW TO MUCH, JAMAICA INN), Valerie Taylor (REPULSION), C.V France (IF I WERE KING, THE SKIN GAME) and Dame Thora Hird (LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE, FLESH AND BLOOD). There was some good 1940’s acting on show here and again it helps bring that old time British feel to the film.

If you are a fan of the World War II genre films then this is a great film to add to your collection, especially as you can now purchase this on BLU RAY as well as DVD. In the Extras you also get a chance to see director Alberto Cavalcanti’s short film YELLOW CAESAR

Release date: July 25th
Format: DVD & Blu-Ray
Certificate: PG
Running Time: 89 Minutes
RRP Price: (DVD) £15.99 (BLU-RAY) £19.99