Most people who are curious about A Warrior’s Heart are probably wondering just how much athletic fun a film about lacrosse can be, but the movie is actually a fun indie film that is highly crafted and beautifully put together well, even if the plot is a bit predictable.
Those who adore Twilight will probably love the film no matter how formulaic it may be, given the fact that the leads are Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz in roles that do not have them white and pasty as vampires.
The film features Lutz in the role of Conor Sullivan who is a bit egocentric which may have worked for him when he lived in California but does not go over quite so well when his family moves to Arlington, VA. His behavior only gets worse however when his father, a marine, dies in Iraq, and Conor turns his depression into rage which gets him tossed off the lacrosse field and then even into jail as the movie progresses.
Before Conor can get into too much trouble however, his dad’s old comrade St. Major Duke Wayne shows up, and he knows plenty about discipline and lacrosse. He gets Conor out of jail and takes him to a tough love Six Nations work camp to teach him the values of hard work and strong ethics. Conor is taught to healthily deal with his rage by tearing down a cabin and when he steps out of line is quickly put back into place by Wayne, who will not take any bull from the young mouthy teen.
It turns out that the summer working in essentially what is an Indian boot camp serves Conor pretty well as he returns to school in Arlington a much better lacrosse player who is finally ready to play as a team player in the national championship game.
Even better, while he is back saving the day as the star player he gets to get a bit closer to Greene who is the daughter of the coach and pretty much any teen’s dream girl. From here on in you can pretty much guess how the movie is going to play out, straight to the winning of the game and the girl’s heart.
The plot may not be all that surprising once the movie finally gets rolling, but Adam Beach is pretty convincing as the marine in charge of turning Conor around. Of course, you would think that they might have come up with a more authentic name for a Native American than Duke Wayne, but you cannot get everything. After all, after five minutes watching Wayne the last thing you would likely do is to criticize his name, so why not go with it for the rest of the movie and have a bit of fun in the process.
CFY 