Embattled
To a certain extent, “Embattled” plays like a 9-years-removed remake of Gavin O’Connor’s sibling rivalry drama, “Warrior.” It deals with the sins of the father being taken on by the son, broken and abusive relationships, and mixed martial arts matches where the emotions outside of the ring take on meaning inside the ring. The only difference is, in the case of “Embattled,” is that no sibling rivalry exists, and it’s just the father and son. It doesn’t pack the emotional punch of its predecessor, but the fight scenes do.
Cash Boykins (Stephen Dorff) is a brutal and powerful MMA fighter, one of the best in the business, and even with two high school sons from his ex-wife, still going strong. His eldest son, Jett (Darren Mann), is following his father into the ring, while being the man of the house to his mother (Elizabeth Reaser) and little brother, Quinn (Colin McKenna), who has Down Syndrome. He feels the weight of that responsibility along with the physical rigors Cash is putting him through. Cash thinks he is ready to fight, and when he wins, Jett seems ready. But Jett also has some trauma to deal with in his past with his father, and it leads them to a confrontation that will change both lives together.
The screenplay by David McKenna goes exactly where you expect it to go in her dynamics between Cash and Jett…until the very end. Aiding “Embattled” and preventing it from being completely perfunctory as a family drama are the performances by Dorff, who is raw and projects his strength effectively, and Mann, who is still trying to sort out where his strength comes from. When we get to end, you almost expect it to head towards a sappy conclusion. What happens shows that not all wounds can be healed, and sometimes, you have to fight through the pain to find peace, even if it’s not available to another person, who is too far gone to realize it.
