Gavin O'Connor
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Connections, in both directions
Hoosiers (1986)
Directed by David Anspaugh
influenced The Way Back (2020), Miracle (2004)
Plot Themes
Is it kind of like Hoosiers ?
The scrappy high school underdog basketball tale in the style of “Hoosiers,” or “The Mighty Ducks,” directed by “Warrior” helmer Gavin O’Connor bears the weight of our parasocial relationship with star Ben Affleck.
In some ways it reminded me of “Hoosiers” but it is not as much about basketball as it is the return journey of an alcoholic to re-enter his life and reconnect with his family.
A couple of relatively subtle tips of the hat to Hoosiers notwithstanding, and a pivotal last-second buzzer-beater aside, Brad Ingelsby’s script doesn’t spend much time concerning itself with the on-court antics of the Bishop Hayes High School Varsity Basketball Team for much of its 108-minute running time.
There are moments where “The Way Back” simply feels like O’Connor and co-writer Brad Inglesby watched “Hoosiers” one night and alit on the idea of combining the Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper roles into one character.
That you can more or less fill in the blanks of what happens next means that “The Way Back” is an addiction drama that is also a genre movie — it’s like “Hoosiers” seen through a shot glass darkly.
Rain Man (1988)
Directed by Barry Levinson
influenced The Accountant² (2025), The Accountant (2016)
Characters Plot Themes
…there are moments throughout where Christian feels more like Dustin Hoffman’s Raymond from Rain Man rather than the character from The Accountant.
…the movie takes the premise of Rain Man (Reunited Brothers, One Charming, One a Troubled Genius) and the bloody border intrigue of Sicario and asks: Why not both?
…a cross between John Wick and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man…
The Accountant 2 presents an entertaining follow-up to a unique action-crime film, which is part Rain Man and part John Wick.
He sounds vaguely like Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man” by way of Milton the stapler guy from “Office Space.
O’Connor calls this Rain Man on steroids, and maybe it raises awareness of autism, but it also celebrates it as a super-power.
John Wick (2014)
Directed by Chad Stahelski
influenced The Accountant² (2025), The Accountant (2016)
Visuals Plot
This movie has some of the best stunt work outside of a "John Wick" flick — too bad that new stunt Oscar category doesn't kick in until 2028.
…marrying its methodical John Wick-ish action with the very levity its borderline-preposterous scenario demands.
The Accountant 2 presents an entertaining follow-up to a unique action-crime film, which is part Rain Man and part John Wick.
…no repite fórmulas ni imita éxitos como John Wick, sino que se enfoca en desarrollar sus personajes y en un misterio intrigante, con la acción como complemento.
Was it entertaining? You bet, as are the John Wick films.
In the nine years between the two Accountant films, the John Wick franchise has raised expectations for Western action, making the frenetic gun battles of previous American genre entries insufficient.
But, this is a fantasy rags-to-riches, brothers-in-competition saga that bargains on its “Rocky” and “The Fighter” influences, but tries to be more intense, and less inspirational, than its predecessors.
…aking an unusually respectful approach to the new sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), "Warrior" refurbishes material we've seen in the "Rocky" films and a thousand other populist dramas about ordinary people making their mark.
As the film works its way toward the pivotal fight, unlike the Rocky movies, Warrior has two combatants to embrace and cheer for.
A double-barreled " Rocky " for the mixed martial arts generations, the practically epic fight film " Warrior " is one of the most exhilarating surprises of this summer movie season.
Like Rocky (1976), the patron saint of all gritty underdog sports movies, Warrior has its roots in the working class milieu of Philadelphia.
So the up-and-coming combat sport of Mixed Martial Arts finally has its “Rocky.”
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
influenced The Way Back (2020)
Themes Plot
Con una mesura emocional que se equipara a la de Manchester by the Sea , el otro hermano Affleck demuestra que bajo el mando de un talentoso director como lo es Gavin O’Connor, éste es capaz de brindarnos una excelente y compleja interpretación.
In that way, this is closer to a “Manchester by the Sea” than a “Hoosiers.”
The Way Back wants to be Manchester by the Sea on the hardwood, but it’s more like Hoosiers with a hangover.
It plays out a little like a cross between Hoosiers and Manchester by the Sea.
The arc is heavy-handed and predictable, and we’ve seen it all before and with more nuance in richer films such as Casey Affleck’s Manchester by the Sea .
As it becomes more overtly melodramatic, the film becomes less emotionally effective, straining for massive moments as if Affleck had gotten jealous of kid brother Casey’s “Manchester By The Sea.”
And its fondest fans can point to exceptions — “Body and Soul,” “The Set-Up,” “The Harder They Fall,” “Raging Bull” and even the first “Rocky.”
It may not be MMA’s “Raging Bull,” but it’s good enough to compare to “Rocky” or “Body and Soul” and not embarrass itself or its sport.
But, this is a fantasy rags-to-riches, brothers-in-competition saga that bargains on its “Rocky” and “The Fighter” influences, but tries to be more intense, and less inspirational, than its predecessors.
Like last year's “The Fighter” (to which it will inevitably be compared), “Warrior” serves up a solid rebuttal to anyone who would argue that a “fight movie” can’t be intelligent, impressively acted and multi-faceted.
The easiest way to describe The Warrior is to imagine The Fighter with more kicking and less crack.
As with last year's Oscar-winner The Fighter , Warrior uses a very physical sport as a means to bring two brothers together.
But for all of its supposed realism and reflection of hard times in America, the movie plays out as complete fairy-tale nonsense—exactly the kind of thing that “The Fighter” was fighting to get away from (even as it partially embraced it).
Shamelessly ripping off “The Fighter,” “Warrior” is also about professional brawlers, inept parenting, overcoming substance abuse and sibling rivalry: Estranged years ago by an alcoholic father (Nick Nolte) now in recovery, the two Conlon brothers, Brendan ( Joel Edgerton ) and Tommy ( Tom Hardy ), will almost inevitably meet again in an Atlantic City mixed-martial-arts cage-match event called Sparta.
Sicario (2015)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
influenced The Accountant² (2025), Warrior (2011)
Themes Plot
…a plot about human trafficking that would fit nicely into the Sicario universe…
The convoluted plot involves human traffickers, a nameless assassin and a compound in Juarez, as if The Accountant 2 borrowed from a script that was intended to be Sicario 3.
…a plot more in line with Sicario, as if the plan was to double down on being borderline offensive for the sake of watching a white guy on the spectrum blasting brown people to save children…
The Accountant 2 turns into Sicario in its third act, for an elaborate shootout south of the border.
…the movie takes the premise of Rain Man (Reunited Brothers, One Charming, One a Troubled Genius) and the bloody border intrigue of Sicario and asks: Why not both?
As a Mexican cop whose home life is glimpsed along the way, Maximiliano Hernández ("Warrior") is a symbol of the cost of the drug war.
To which I can only say, name me one boxing film, besides " Raging Bull ," whose story line isn't somehow a welter of clichés.
It's as if "Raging Bull" suddenly morphed into "Rocky."
And its fondest fans can point to exceptions — “Body and Soul,” “The Set-Up,” “The Harder They Fall,” “Raging Bull” and even the first “Rocky.”
Still, Warrior is closer kin to Raging Bull , Million Dollar Baby , and The Fighter than to Rocky and its ilk.
It may not be MMA’s “Raging Bull,” but it’s good enough to compare to “Rocky” or “Body and Soul” and not embarrass itself or its sport.
The characters of Warrior don’t fight in a ring, but a cage, as the film is something of a Rocky/Raging Bull hybrid set within in the more distinctly current world of mixed martial arts.
Jungleland echos a number of other works, from something like Warrior to even the songs of Bruce Springsteen.
This may inevitably recall the fairly recent likes of “The Fighter” and “Warrior,” excellent movies with other fine lead actors that likewise tipped hat to the gritty ’70s cinema of “Fat City” and “Rocky” — which in turn cast a critical yet longing gaze back to palooka dramas from Hollywood’s golden age.
It’s a bit rusty at the start and suffers from stilted dialogue, but it soon finds its footing and adds up to being a solid companion piece to 2011’s Warrior , also about the emotional scars exchanged between brothers.
The underdog narrative will seem overly familiar to anyone that’s recently watched “Warrior” or “The Fighter” follows two brothers - one a talented on-the-rise boxer and the other his screwed up trainer – as they end up in the small textile town of Fall River, Massachusetts barely making enough cash influx to fuel their next big trek.
And it could find a moderate audience theatrically, although the surface similarities with pictures that deal with fraternal relationships and boxing (Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior and David O’Russell’s The Fighter are recent examples) means that it might not be distinctive enough to break out commercially.
His character is partial to an audiobook of Moby Dick, constantly chasing what he may never get, and nearly every scene with Nolte in it is akin to Mickey Rourkeâ??s turn in The Wrestler, tapping into a sense of shame so potent that the result is heartbreaking more often than not.
Nick Nolte’s turn in Warrior echoed the kind of career revitalising performance that Mickey Rourke delivered in The Wrestler.
One part “Rocky,” one part “The Wrestler,” “Warrior,” in the wrong hands, could be your average ESPN movie of the week.
Gavin O'Conner's Warrior is a working-class, kitchen-sink sports picture that will remind most young viewers of The Fighter and The Wrestler.
Earlier in the year, The Fighter brought the family-based boxing drama back to prominence, although that followed Darren Aronofsky’s subversion of the familiar formula, The Wrestler , which instead chose to focus on wrestling.
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Directed by Peter Berg
influenced The Way Back (2020), Warrior (2011)
Visuals Themes
He's ably aided by the gritty cinematography of Eduard Grau (Boy Erased), brisk editing of David Rosenbloom (Friday Night Lights), and moody score by Rob Simonsen (Foxcatcher).
Even the shaky-cam, natural-lighting shooting style — which gives the games a lived-in, organic feel — is straight out of Friday Night Lights .
Like all the best sports movies—from Friday Night Lights to Hoosiers to Field of Dreams—this one has more on its mind than the game clock and the scoreboard.
The Way Back borrows conventions from such jock uplift films as Remember the Titans and Friday Night Lights but violates inspirational movie principles.
Small-town football may be a far cry from the world of professional mixed martial arts, but memories of the vivid, authentic, heartbreaking eloquence found on television series "Friday Night Lights" week after weeka drama deep and attentive enough to truly be about people rather than a game only serves to put the soppy, pandering, threadbare "Warrior" to even greater shame.
Like "Friday Night Lights," "Warrior" is a quiet character study so heart-wrenching it doesn't matter whether you have any interest in the sport at its center.
His character is partial to an audiobook of Moby Dick, constantly chasing what he may never get, and nearly every scene with Nolte in it is akin to Mickey Rourkeâ??s turn in The Wrestler, tapping into a sense of shame so potent that the result is heartbreaking more often than not.
He’s obsessed with righting old wrongs, which may be why he is absorbed by Captain Ahab’s pursuit of the elusive monster whale in “Moby Dick”; he listens to the audio version of the novel at every opportunity.
Warrior is narrated by the audiobook that Nolte’s character is constantly listening to, Moby Dick.
In classic narrative style, the patriarch, (Nick Nolte in a solid outing that begins with real promise—drinking coffee and reading John Steinbeck, quoting from Moby Dick no less—before he’s pushed back far beyond the ropes) is nearing his 1000th day of sobriety only to be offered a home-coming gift of scotch from his recently returned son, Tommy.
When “Warrior” begins with Nolte listening to the book-on-tape of “Moby Dick,” it is clear the kind of movie we’re in for.
The movie's script risks drawing its conflicts out too plainly: The brothers' contrasting training regimens (Brendan listens to Beethoven in a pristine gym, while Tommy is out in the muck) get a little too much emphasis, and viewers would understand the weight of Paddy's personal demons even if he weren't always listening to a "Moby Dick" audiobook.
Jack Reacher (2012)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
influenced The Accountant² (2025), The Accountant (2016)
Plot Themes
We’ve had five Bourne s, three Taken s, and we’re only a week away from a second beating by Jack Reacher .
Like so many action films of the last 15 years — not to mention all iterations of the Jack Reacher franchise — the Accountant movies are superhero films for audiences who can’t take capes and spandex seriously.
…the rest of the film is fairly decent and much as one would expect from an Equalizer or Reacher.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Directed by John Frankenheimer
influenced The Accountant (2016)
Characters
He’s always been an inexpressive actor with a stiff demeanor, who might remind you of the cruel comment that Pauline Kael once made about Laurence Harvey: that he finally found a role he was capable of playing convincingly in “The Manchurian Candidate”—that of a “brainwashed zombie.”
Not since 1971’s Dirty Harry—a movie I love that espouses a political message I deplore—have we had an action thriller stage its final showdown on a school bus.
…perhaps as close as 2020s Hollywood will ever come to producing a modern-day Dirty Harry without imploding with guilt.
Alas, although the acting's uniformly strong, and the film has kitchen-sink grit to spare, it errs more on the side of 1985's Rocky IV than John Avildsen's '76 original, what with its "unstoppable" Russian fighter (Kurt Angle) and a climax that's never in doubt.
When, late in the story, both brothers must defeat an inexpressive and nearly superhuman Russian fighter (pro wrestler Kurt Angle), it's impossible not to think of Dolph Lundgren as the Soviet near-automaton from the affectionately mocked "Rocky IV."
But because we know exactly which two characters will end up in the championship bout (despite the challenge of a hulking Russian straight out of Rocky IV), the home stretch occasionally becomes tedious, with the emphasis shifting from character development to repetitive slugfests.
In “Rocky IV” the same year, Stallone— draped in the flag—gets to pummel a Soviet Superman, giving America some sweet wish fulfillment during the Reagan Cold War.
But there is way, way too much of the TV commentators, who give us the same information ad nauseam (the bouts are almost comically over-explained), and none of the other fighters are given anything beyond a rudimentary sense of personality (O'Connor and co-writers Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorman even trot out a Rocky IV-style Russian killing machine, and the characterization is about as subtly drawn).
Here Comes the Boom (2012)
Directed by Frank Coraci
influenced by Warrior (2011)
Plot Themes Characters
Part Rocky, part Warrior (the 2011 mixed martial arts drama), Boom is a fight film for the family, a feel-good cage match that wears its tattooed heart on its rippling bicep.
The movie has been compared to "Warrior," but its story of a goofball fighting on behalf of children really owes more to "Nacho Libre," ("When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants.").
It's the combination of Warrior and Mr. Holland's Opus nobody asked for, but here it comes anyway, landing with a thump.
As to the absurdity of the “sport” of mixed martial arts, which is little more than barroom brawling with no biting or broken bottles, this is an improvement on one of the worst films of 2011, “Warrior,” which expected us to take it seriously.
The schoolteacher-moonlighting-in-MMA character also appeared in last year's male weepie Warrior , played by Joel Edgerton , though Boom invests further in the fix-our-failing-schools issue making the rounds: Call it Waiting for Superman Punch.
Salute the guy who suffers for his cause, but Scott’s far from an admirable do-gooder or even a conflicted bruiser like Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton’s characters in last year’s “Warrior.”
With ledger-entry care we get into it one plodding record at a time, beginning with blurry images of a hitman taking out linguini-eating mobsters in a scene that’s reminiscent of the young Michael Corleone removing the family nuisance in “The Godfather.”
Along with Affleck, they know how to keep Christian grounded so that he still feels like a real human being, and not like a member of the Avengers or something.
All that, plus an Avengers-esque hub of teenage autistic savants using their special abilities to outwit and out-data hunt everyone else.
Moreover, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (The Avengers, 2014’s Godzilla) ensures we don’t miss a beat, as the timing of the visceral violence is just as on point as all the comedic moments in The Accountant 2.