Review -- Embattled

                                 

A hard-hitting drama with a great cast and performances, Nick Sarkisov's Embattled largely flew under the radar due to its unfortunate release date at the height of the pandemic. Its grittiness -- reminiscent of the boldness of 1970s American cinema -- and story set in an environment not often explored in film should make it your next movie to watch, especially if you have a good dramatic piece in mind.

Cash Boykins (Stephen Dorff) is an aggressive, abrasive, sexist and homophobic MMA champion, who had abandoned his family years earlier. Having renewed contact with his older son Jett (Darren Mann) while completely disregarding his younger son with Williams Syndrome, Quinn (Colin McKenna), Cash starts training Jett and helping him fulfill his own ambition of becoming a fighter. Circumstances eventually lead to a clash that threatens the family even further -- a furiously promoted and anticipated yet immoral fight between father and son... 

The movie makes good points about toxic family relationships, father-son dynamics and the MMA business exploiting its fighters. Scenes involving the business side are engaging not only because they show a different side of Cash -- as horrid of a human being as he is to his own family, he paradoxically truly cares about his fellow fighters and their financial well-being -- but also because they examine the workings of a sport that we rarely see represented within this medium. Mixed martial arts is most likely the only career option for many individuals and, just like in any other type of entertainment industry, the people that come into this sport are at the mercy of higher corporate powers. Although I understand that this is not Embattled's centerpiece, I wish that there had been more content about the business itself and Cash's disputes with the higher-ups.

The family relationships and characters are well fleshed out. The scene where someone suddenly recalls an unspeakable event and suffers a near-breakdown is one of the most effective moments, as is the Welcome to Holland sequence and the phone call toward the end. The script successfully depicts the poison of family abuse and indifference, how it affects generations and the toll that it takes on children.

An intriguing aspect of Embattled is the way that it pays a lot of attention to social issues and weaves them expertly into the main story. It surmises toxic masculinity perfectly in the sequence where Cash is watching Quinn play a video game, in hateful disbelief that this is his son. It also manages to point its finger at stigma with Cash making an assumption about Quinn's feelings, but also with his ex-wife's assumption about her upcoming date. These are issues and relatable struggles that I wish more movies would tackle or at least incorporate into their narratives.

I also need to mention the fight scenes, which are as authentic as they come. The final scene in particular is brutal in a number of ways. It is a bloody, messy, merciless conflict that naturally goes much deeper than a cage match. The emotions and confrontations between Cash and Jett and Quinn, between Cash and Susan, the past, the violence... it all comes to a head in the final fight. The result is a breathless sight of pure, unrelenting intensity and the finality of this tattered family's tragedy. Kudos goes to all of the actors involved for what they have achieved. I should also mention the beautiful, austere cinematography by Paul Özgür, which contributes to Embattled's realism.

The performances are excellent. Mann is a picture of affection and strength that strives beyond perfection due to his cruel father. McKenna gives a great performance as the sensitive and neglected son. Elizabeth Reaser is very good as Cash's ex-wife and the boys' struggling mother, while Ava Capri and Karrueche Tran are exceptional as Jett's smart love interest and Cash's principled and assertive second wife, respectively. 

The standout, however, is Dorff, who has never encountered a role that he could not play. He transforms into an absolute beast of a man, both in terms of physicality and Cash's seriously warped psyche. Having grown up with an abusive father himself, Cash knows no other way to be with his sons. The issue is, he does not even care to know, because he firmly believes that no other parenting philosophy is right and that they would turn out unforgivably "soft" if he treated them any other way. He sees no problem with insulting his son with special needs and sees no qualms with almost beating his other son to death in the cage because, from his standpoint, a man is only a man if he possesses a "kill or be killed" attitude. In short, violence is his main language and Dorff taps into the damaged mindset to perfection. 

 

The actor does find a trace of vulnerability in Cash's demeanor, though; a note which permeates a number of sequences and which postulates that this might have become a very different person if his upbringing had been nurturing. His last scene with Tran shows a man who is desperately trying to hang on to every bit of love that he can get and desperately trying to hide this yearning at the same time, and his very last scene is a true sensation, with Cash traversing a spectrum of emotions in less than a minute. On another note, his scenes with the MMA bigwigs show a businessman who is shrewd and uncompromising about his job, the same traits that unfortunately get translated as callousness to people who are supposed to be his nearest and dearest. It is a performance for the ages. 

Embattled is an example of a realistic drama that does not get made often anymore. It is a cue to filmmakers to pay more attention to the human heart and the creative side of cinema, because one never knows what kind of narrative could burst out of a unique and empathetic idea. It could be a tale about a brutish MMA fighter, about a tender brotherly relationship, about a fractured family... or it could be all of the above in an underrated, meaningful and affecting movie.

9/10