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Peaceful Warrior
Lions Gate Films / DEJ Productions


7.8

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 29 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sensuality, sex references and accident scenes

Starring Scott Mechlowicz, Nick Nolte, Amy Smart, Paul Wesley, Ashton Holmes, Agnes Bruckner, B.J. Britt, and Beatrice Rosen

Dan Millman (Mechlowicz) is a talented college gymnast with Olympic dreams. He has it all: trophies, teammates, fast motorcycles, fast girls and wild parties. Then Dan's world is turned upside down when he meets a mysterious stranger he calls Socrates (Nolte), who holds the power to tap into new worlds of strength and understanding. After a serious injury, with the help of Socrates and an elusive young woman named Joy (Smart), Dan discovers that he has much to learn and even more to leave behind before he can become a peaceful warrior and find his destiny. This moving tale about the power of the human spirit is based on Dan Millman's best-selling autobiographical novel, Way of the Peaceful Warrior. (Lionsgate)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Kevin Bernhardt Dan Millman (novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior)
DIRECTED BY:	Victor Salva
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 26, 2007 Theatrical: June 2, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	121 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Strong performances by Scott Mechlowicz as Millman and Nick Nolte as the mysterious mechanic who changes his life ground the film in effective drama.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The result is something close to a textbook example of how NOT to visualize spiritual principles of the "be here now" variety.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Sometimes in an imperfect movie there is consolation simply in regarding the actors.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Cult-favorite director Victor Salva ("Jeepers Creepers" I & II) is a competent visual storyteller and the film believes in itself so strongly (and with such a straight face) that it's hard not to halfway enjoy it.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

In the ranks of improbable gymnastics coaches, Nick Nolte falls just below the cartoon version of Mr. T.

Variety Robert Koehler

Mere recitation of homilies for better living -- which is what Nick Nolte's gas station guru imparts to a struggling young gymnast -- and a half-baked account of the athlete's comeback are no substitutes for a complete movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

The film is better than it has any right to be, considering the prosaic source.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Above all, there's Nolte, who hovers over the whole production like some sapient force of nature.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

All this stuff is probably right. It's just that the director, Victor Salva, underscores his points with thunderous obviousness and manipulates us through ham-handed plot gambits.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

You might be better off reading the book and imagining Nolte as Socrates.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Watchable exercise in Zen hokum.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The "What The Bleep Do We Know?" crowd may well receive the film's wisdom like communion, but the rest of us are free to gag when Salva tries to jam it down our throats.

The New York Times Nathan Lee

For all its manifest corniness, this is an achingly sincere and supremely unembarrassed effort to transform an audience for the good. Its heart is very much in the right place - a place that movies all but ignore - but its mind is a mush.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

You'd have to be either an avid New Ager or willing to see Nick Nolte in absolutely anything to get fully onboard for this visually overexcited tale of salvation-by-gas-station-guru.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The cast is quite good. But Peaceful Warrior, which is basically "The Karate Kid" with a bigger kid and a bigger mentor, represents a journey of predictability, rather than a destination worth the trouble.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The film's biggest miracle is the straight face Nick Nolte maintains in his role as Socrates.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The intriguing thing about The Peaceful Warrior is that nothing else in the movie feels haphazard.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

By the end of the film's two-hour stream of Be-Here-Now-isms, anyone left in the audience will be wanting to yell, "Put a sock in it!" to old Soc.

Los Angeles Times Robert Abele

The sage-elder/wayward-charge saga Peaceful Warrior aims for inspirational highs but mostly feels like a self-help book read aloud by actors.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This woozily uplifting saga is big on homilies and deficient in just about everything else.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

One of those blessedly rare films based on a self-help book, is remarkable in one sense: It prevents "The Lake House" and its magical mailbox from being the most ridiculous concept on screen this summer.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Tries to be "The Karate Kid" of gymnastics. It looks more like "The Karate Kid" as imagined by Details magazine.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Peaceful Warrior fails pitifully at being transcendent. This New Age movie about living in the moment gets you looking at your watch and squirming in your seat.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Suzie G. gave it a10:
This is an amazing movie. It really changed my perspective of things.

Brian Y. gave it a10:
I think sometimes we are bored because many people go to get away from thinking at the movies.

Statik dog gave it a1:
Are you guys on crack?!......This is truly a steaming turd. Like an afterschool special only a little goofier.

Kelly M. gave it a2:
This movie was so full of cliches. It was also way too long. Don't waste your time.

Veronica E. gave it an8:
Enjoyable and inspirational. The Peaceful Warrior charged me up. I was relieved that the essence of the book was strong and that its message of transformation could be lively and fun. What a relief that movies can be an event that lifts us to greater perspectives. I noticed that the critics are so in their cyncal marketable heads. But how refreshing it is when we can hold possibility and even revel in it for two hours...so beyond the rush we get from violence and suspicion. Maybe we can create more and better movies that challenge us to experience our own potential.

Bob U. gave it a9:
I usually don't buy into condensed & packaged philosophy but I thought this movie was excellent. I see the critics view - it's predictable, it's a little cliché, perhaps even too simplistic in it's message. But the simple message works. The acting works. The story works. "Take out the trash" by ignoring all the negative critics and judge this movie for yourself. I predict you will be glad you did.

Bita S. gave it a10:
We need more movies like Peaceful Warrior, and far less movies as 300. What are we doing to our society? Where are the responsible filmmakers? How come our society craves more violence than peace? Is there ever an answer to these questions? I believe there is, only if a filmmaker holds himself responsible for feeding good food to the audience.

Peaceful Warrior Lions Gate Films / DEJ Productions

Peaceful Warrior
Lions Gate Films / DEJ Productions