Reviews

Peaceful Warrior

Following the template by numbers

By MATTIAS FREY | July 12, 2006

1.5 Stars

EXCRUCIATING KITSCH: Nolte's dialogue would have sounded better coming from the late Pat Morita

The wise-elder/insolent-apprentice story has been so durable in Hollywood that many scriptwriting manuals teach it as a paradigm. Inspired by Dan Millman’s New Age bestseller, Victor Salva’s crib follows the template by the numbers. Scott Mechlowicz’s Millman is the big man on a Berkeley campus inhabited seemingly only by 35-year-old models. A star gymnast and champion rake, Millman is perfect but wants more: a spot on the Olympic team. Enter Nick Nolte as an unnamed “Qwik-E-Mart philosopher.” Lecturing from his gas station/convenience store, he teaches his ambitious pup to harness superbia with mundane tasks and aphorisms that sounded better in Mr. Miyagi’s affected accent (“Take out the trash to clear your mind”). The kitsch factor is excruciating. Salva’s disciplined direction and Nolte’s wheezy performance supply a modicum of grace to this otherwise banal exercise.