A couple weeks ago, my dad spotted something curious in the newspaper:
the words "free" and "movie" in suspiciously close proximity to one
another. I'd never even heard of the film Peaceful Warrior; I was familiar with the book The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
in title only and no notion of its contents. But I didn't much care. I
knew enough to know that this movie, which director Victor Salva deemed
"important" enough that he offered up three days' worth of free passes
all around the country just so people would pay attention, wasn't a
slasher flick, meaning if I could see it for free on opening night, I
was going to go for it.
I went. And now, at one in the morning, I'm sitting here trying to absorb what I saw. Peaceful Warrior
is a movie with a message. You can't escape that fact. Based on the
article I read, I expected a little preaching. I got a lot. Which isn't
necessarily a bad thing. This is, above all, a mentor movie. Mostly,
it's like The Karate Kid without the cornball 80s trappings.
A restless young man (whose name just happens to be Daniel (Scott
Mechlowicz), though this is coincidental since this guy actually exists)
is intrigued by a man at a gas station who appears to teleport to the
top of the roof. The fellow is courteous to each of his customers,
offering them a "How are we doing?" and "Thanks for stopping by", but
when Dan begins barraging him with questions, he is gruff and sarcastic,
and he makes strange requests of him. He looks a bit like Santa Claus
with his head of snowy hair and a beard and mustache to match, but
because of his philosophical ramblings, Daniel nicknames him Socrates.
His was the only readily familiar face in the small cast, and my mom
correctly pegged him as Nick Nolte, which I missed, still stuck on the image of a wild-haired Nolte going Hawaiian for his mug shot.
One of the first things Socrates tells Dan is to lay off the booze.
Life might do well to imitate art in this case. That said, Nolte is what
kept the movie compelling for me as he delivered cryptic dialogue in a
gravelly voice. Sometimes his words are wise, sometimes funny, but
there's no question he gets the best lines in the movie. He never loses
his enigmatic presence; we don't learn anything about his background,
not even his name. Heck, we're not even sure he exists; could he just be
a figment of Dan's imagination, pushing him to excel in his chosen
pursuit of Olympic gymnastics?
It's possible but unlikely,
since there is the small matter of Joy (Amy Smart), who, the credits
tell us, went on to marry Dan. I mention it because the romantic subplot
involving her is developed so poorly that most of the time I forgot all
about the character. But she is definitely real, and she claims to know
Dan's mysterious friend. She never gets around to telling us just what
her connection with the bearded mystic is; perhaps that's because
screenwriter Kevin Bernhardt wants us to free our minds from the desire
for such details. But for as little as she has to do in the movie, I
feel as though her part could have been excised with little to no
detriment to the film.
More substantial are Dan's coach (Tim
DeKay) and fellow gymnasts, particularly the ultra-competitive Trevor
(Paul Wesley, who played Lex's long-lost, bad-news brother Lucas in
season two of Smallville)
and the timid, mediocre Tommy (Ashton Holmes). They are Dan's only
consistent companions aside from his new mentor, and the first half of
the film alternates fairly frequently between the gym at Berkeley and
Socrates' "service station", as he insists Dan call it. When a calamity,
hinted at in a recurring dream Dan has, strikes, largely due to his own
recklessness, Dan has to start over, and while Socrates offers
encouragement, his coach insists that he will never compete again.
The war that Dan must fight is with himself, with his insecurities and
his impure motives and everything else that gets in the way of living in
the moment. Because in the beginning, not only is he haunted by spooky
nightmares, he just isn't a very nice guy. Later, while sitting atop an
old car near the shop, he postulates that fear is the reason for all the
other negative emotions, which Yoda could have told him. In a way, he
did; Socrates is like Yoda and Mr. Miyagi, while Daniel is the impetuous
youngster in such desperate need of training.
The movie
starts off pretty dark, with many scenes occurring at night, and taking
itself pretty seriously with Socrates' frequent lectures, delivered as
much to the audience as to Dan. Though the serious tone continues, with
occasional relief from Socrates and eventually Dan, who learns to
lighten up a little, the movie begins to look brighter, with more
daylight scenes as the young protagonist learns to empty his mind of
distractions and concentrate on the moment. It becomes as much
"inspirational true story" as it does philosophical exercise.
The movie feels a little long at two hours, mainly because it gets off
to a slow start. Or maybe it just seemed that way to me, partly because I
wasn't quite sure what sort of film it was. Like Mr. Miyagi, Socrates
imparts sage lessons by having Dan perform menial tasks, such as washing
windows and cleaning toilets. These lessons don't have any specific
correlation to particular gymnastic moves; rather, they help him to
focus his mind on the job at hand. The film does get rather trippy on a
few occasions, as the teleporting trick is a precursor for things to
come, and it turns out that Socrates has super-quick reflexes too. Nolte
was once considered for the role of Superman in the original film;
maybe a little of that power rubbed off on him... The metaphysical
mind-bending stuff makes Socrates a little harder to accept as someone
who actually exists; it causes us to wonder which scenes really are all
in Dan's head.
I didn't like it as much as The Karate Kid,
a comparison with which it is hard to resist. I think it's just a
little darker and more didactic than it needs to be. That said, it's a
film that inspires audiences to strive for the things we love while
keeping in mind that the journey is more important than the destination.
Nolte's performance is extremely enjoyable, while the rest of the cast
hold their own and the Zennish messages permeate the plot so thoroughly
that the audience can't help but pick some of them up. I don't know if
watching a free screening of Peaceful Warrior is going to make a profound impact on anyone's life. But it's definitely worth a shot.
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