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Peaceful Warrior (2006) - Directed by Victor Salva
"Life is a mystery. Don't waste time trying to figure it out."
Have you ever totally forgotten that you've seen a specific movie years ago, but somehow remember it well enough to review it? That's me for the 2006 drama film, Peaceful Warrior, which is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by gymnast Dan Millman. I'm going to review this before I forget anything about it, because I have no interest in reviewing it again since it was a bit dull at times. I remember a lot about the movie, anyway.
Local gymnast Dan Millman has trouble with restlessness. His stress and nightmares about the National Olympic Championships keep him up at night as he hopes to overcome the stress by jogging. One night at a gas station, he spots the man he just spoke to on top of the very gas station he was at! Now, this old man Dan dubs "Socrates" helps him overcome this stress.
This film was directed by Victor Silva, who's most famous deal was the Jeepers Creepers movies. He was never the best director. He tried with this film, which was easy to see, and might even be more than what can be asked of him considering his cinema history. There's some well-placed cinematography on multiple occasions. But the dream sequences came off as campy at times and distracted from the drama.
This so-called "drama" movie mostly focuses on philosophical these-and-those spewed by aged actor Nick Nolte as Socrates, who doesn't really put as much heart and soul into the role as he did the dialogue. The same can be said for the entire cast, although there are some good moments to take from it. The most important one might be that "the journey is more important than the destination." There are plenty of others which may require paying attention, which is a good aspect considering you should never lose it, even though it has a few dull moments.
But the real problem with the movie is how they handled the shadowy moments and the whole "mystery" aspect which would have made the movie so much better if they had put more focus on that. You never really know id Socrates is just a poorly played mysterious old man, an angel of God or a figment of Dan's imagination. And the fact that the question remains unanswered doesn't help the ending of the movie at all. If I watched it today, I'd probably hope for a similar route to Fight Club.
Well, Peaceful Warrior is an OK movie which might come close to being a must-see if you want some good morale. But other than that, it's an unintentionally campy movie where the cast and crew are doing things just well enough to get by. The movie relies on morale and mystery when the truth is the movie is more of a drama and that's something the movie forgets on multiple occasions.
"Life is a mystery. Don't waste time trying to figure it out."
Have you ever totally forgotten that you've seen a specific movie years ago, but somehow remember it well enough to review it? That's me for the 2006 drama film, Peaceful Warrior, which is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by gymnast Dan Millman. I'm going to review this before I forget anything about it, because I have no interest in reviewing it again since it was a bit dull at times. I remember a lot about the movie, anyway.
Local gymnast Dan Millman has trouble with restlessness. His stress and nightmares about the National Olympic Championships keep him up at night as he hopes to overcome the stress by jogging. One night at a gas station, he spots the man he just spoke to on top of the very gas station he was at! Now, this old man Dan dubs "Socrates" helps him overcome this stress.
This film was directed by Victor Silva, who's most famous deal was the Jeepers Creepers movies. He was never the best director. He tried with this film, which was easy to see, and might even be more than what can be asked of him considering his cinema history. There's some well-placed cinematography on multiple occasions. But the dream sequences came off as campy at times and distracted from the drama.
This so-called "drama" movie mostly focuses on philosophical these-and-those spewed by aged actor Nick Nolte as Socrates, who doesn't really put as much heart and soul into the role as he did the dialogue. The same can be said for the entire cast, although there are some good moments to take from it. The most important one might be that "the journey is more important than the destination." There are plenty of others which may require paying attention, which is a good aspect considering you should never lose it, even though it has a few dull moments.
But the real problem with the movie is how they handled the shadowy moments and the whole "mystery" aspect which would have made the movie so much better if they had put more focus on that. You never really know id Socrates is just a poorly played mysterious old man, an angel of God or a figment of Dan's imagination. And the fact that the question remains unanswered doesn't help the ending of the movie at all. If I watched it today, I'd probably hope for a similar route to Fight Club.
Well, Peaceful Warrior is an OK movie which might come close to being a must-see if you want some good morale. But other than that, it's an unintentionally campy movie where the cast and crew are doing things just well enough to get by. The movie relies on morale and mystery when the truth is the movie is more of a drama and that's something the movie forgets on multiple occasions.