Embattled may be smarter than it looks, but it's still further evidence of the decline of human civilisation.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 30, 2021

Director Nick Sarkisov's Embattled is a punchy sports drama that delivers blow after blow. Stephen Dorff is fantastic as the MMA fighter who enters the ring to take on his 18 year-old son.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 5, 2021

Part classic montage-showdown sports movie, part southern gothic Oedipal family drama, this decidedly peculiar but oddly compelling film is the proverbial curate's egg.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 29, 2021

Embattled scores plenty of points and lands the perfect amount of emotional punches that you may not see coming.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 29, 2021

Embattled has enough gritty realism about a dysfunctional and damaged family to make up for the occasional hokey dialogue and the far-fetched but not entirely impossible scenario of a famous MMA champ doing a high-profile fight against his son.

| Dec 18, 2020

I would never think of watching an MMA fight, nor would I ever want to see this ugly family drama again, nor would I care to ink up my body as the film's star does.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 1, 2020

MMA drama has lots of heart, fighting, and swearing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 30, 2020

Sarkisov and screenwriter David McKenna ("American History X) give us fully drawn, realistic male characters slugging it out in a battle of male toxicity.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 26, 2020

Ducking and weaving away from our presumptions, Embattled embraces the idea that violent men will use the only means they know to break a barbaric cycle.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 21, 2020

The father-son drama in Embattled might win some rounds, but the abundance of clichés leads to a loss overall.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 20, 2020

Overall, Embattled does have some sports movie tropes-montages, anyone? But, the emotional heft of the film makes it one of the best sports movies I've seen and enjoyed.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Nov 20, 2020

Much like Dorff's overbearing Cash, the film is easier to take when it's not in your face.

| Nov 20, 2020

This fight is entirely about emotional catharsis, both for the characters and for us.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 20, 2020

An MMA drama with heart, conviction and a killer right hand jab, "Embattled" is a different kind of fighter story, one where the consequences of the fight are more important than the win-loss records of its fighters.

| Original Score: B | Nov 20, 2020

In "Embattled," the human side feels explored, as if the film could have been made without the MMA scenes and still been a worthwhile watch. But it does have those adrenaline-injecting fights, so ... all the better.

| Nov 19, 2020

Here's a sports drama that caught me off guard and managed to land some punches by the end.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 19, 2020

The problems start with the script, but they expand to cover the choppy, ineffective MMA fight sequences and the either overcooked or under-served characters at its center.

| Original Score: D | Nov 19, 2020

[The climactic fight is] where the fireworks are, but the true worth to Embattled is the path Jett takes to get there and the reasons for why he does.

| Original Score: B- | Nov 19, 2020

A testosterone substitute in drama form, "Embattled" practically peacocks onto the screen.

| Nov 19, 2020

It's gripping in the moment, and gives you a clear rooting interest, thanks in no small part to Mann.

| Nov 18, 2020