Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Embattled

Play trailer 2:24 Poster for Embattled R Released Nov 20, 2020 1h 57m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
70% Tomatometer 23 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Embattled

Embattled

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Embattled fights genre clichés to a draw while landing enough emotional punches to make this a sports drama worth watching.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (23) Critics Reviews
Paul Byrnes Sydney Morning Herald Embattled may be smarter than it looks, but it's still further evidence of the decline of human civilisation. Rated: 3/5 Jul 30, 2021 Full Review Leslie Felperin Guardian Part classic montage-showdown sports movie, part southern gothic Oedipal family drama, this decidedly peculiar but oddly compelling film is the proverbial curate's egg. Rated: 3/5 Jun 29, 2021 Full Review Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Sarkisov and screenwriter David McKenna ("American History X) give us fully drawn, realistic male characters slugging it out in a battle of male toxicity. Rated: 3.5/4 Nov 26, 2020 Full Review Niall Browne Movies in Focus Director Nick Sarkisov's Embattled is a punchy sports drama that delivers blow after blow. Stephen Dorff is fantastic as the MMA fighter who enters the ring to take on his 18 year-old son. Rated: 4/5 Jul 5, 2021 Full Review Leo Brady AMovieGuy.com Embattled scores plenty of points and lands the perfect amount of emotional punches that you may not see coming. Rated: 3/4 Jan 29, 2021 Full Review Carla Hay Culture Mix Embattled has enough gritty realism about a dysfunctional and damaged family to make up for the occasional hokey dialogue and the far-fetched but not entirely impossible scenario of a famous MMA champ doing a high-profile fight against his son. Dec 18, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (44) audience reviews
Nicholas O Great movie. People upset about the cliches act like they don't exist for a reason. It's a little over the top and the fighting scenes have too many cuts but this is the most moving film I've watched in a very long time. Reminds me of the fighter. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/25/24 Full Review David C Underdeveloped characters and a predictable storyline. The idea was promising but there were too many cliches jammed in to make it worthwhile. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/02/23 Full Review Gareth D Much better than I expected, even with the Connor McGregor + Floyd Mayweather caricature lead excellently played by Dorff, a family drama at the core, overloaded with toxic masculinity and dysfunction. A genuinely good film. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member 3 out of 5 stars. Strong family sports drama about abuse and overcoming it. Strong family drama. Performances. But boring and dull direction. It does lead to a strong showdown climax. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/28/21 Full Review james g Stephen Dorff, as a father, is relentlessly furious. Darren Mann, the eldest son, is his opposite. World's collide. Its obvious these men trained hard as they look great in fights, but I don't much understand MMA rules (are there any?). The acting is a bit over-the-top and I didn't believe a few plot points. But if you like the MMA sport, this one is for you. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Starts out with a lot of stereotypes and cliches and, while it does keep those up throughout, the story it tells is somewhat original but not one I'm all that interested in. I mean... the central character is not someone anyone should want to see win and the outcome of the fight does not matter since he gets the big spotlight and payday anyways. Still, as juvenile as the premise was, it did make me a little bit curious to see how it ends. At least it doesn't glorify MMA as the ‘end all, be all' to life, the universe, and everything in between like every other movie on the subject. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Embattled

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

More Like This

View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
Bruised 50% 56% Bruised Watchlist TRAILER for Bruised Jungleland 74% 48% Jungleland Watchlist TRAILER for Jungleland Bobcat Moretti 71% 95% Bobcat Moretti Watchlist The Way Back 85% 84% The Way Back Watchlist TRAILER for The Way Back Blue Bayou 75% 93% Blue Bayou Watchlist TRAILER for Blue Bayou Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All videos

Embattled

Embattled: Trailer 1 Embattled: Trailer 1 2:24 View more videos
View All Embattled photos

Embattled

Embattled (2020) Embattled (2020) Embattled (2020) Embattled (2020) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Director
Nick Sarkisov
Producer
Eryl Cochran, Scott LaStaiti, Sergey Sarkisov
Screenwriter
David McKenna
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Blitz Films
Rating
R (Pervasive Strong Language|Crude Sexual References|Some Nudity|Violence)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 20, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 20, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$32.2K
Runtime
1h 57m
Most Popular at Home Now