Embattled

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2:24

Embattled

R

Released Nov 20, 2020

1h 57m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

70%

Tomatometer

23 Reviews

71%

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.

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Critics Consensus

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Alexander B

I was suprised how much i loved this movie. If you are a MMA fan or just a sports fan I strongly recommend this film. It's got a semi clever plot, great cast, great fight choreography and a good message behind it. It has some small plot holes but aside from that it's worth watching.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/10/25

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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

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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

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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

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Audience Member

Great flick seen it twice now, and it's just as good the second time. Way above that 70% fresh rating

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

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Nick Sarkisov

Director

Stephen Dorff

Cash

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Embattled: Trailer 1

2:24

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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

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