Born A Champion movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Born A Champion [Blu-ray]

Releases January 22, 2021 in select theaters and on Video On Demand.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD on January 26, 2021

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 52 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

Lionsgate and Grindstone Entertainment present an inspiring sports movie that has a lot of heart. It’s a fictional story about Mickey Kelley, one of the first American black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who gets pulled away from everything he loves and into an unsanctioned MMA tournament to prove his worth.

It’s designed to almost feel like a documentary with the comeback story told in chronological order and narrated by Taco, played by Maurice Compte.

Unlike the Nicolas Cage movie entitled Jiu Jitsu, THIS movie features a lot of legit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighting scenes.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Profanity and F-bombs
Talk of prostitution
You see men standing at urinals in a public bathroom.
Bloody fighting in the ring
You see a close-up of a man who gets badly injured during a fight
Talk of death

THEMES:

Honor
Redemption
Courage
Hope
Love
The power of social media
Friendship
Second chances

THINGS I LIKED:

Emmy award-winning Sean Patrick Flanery stars in the movie, as well as lends his writing hand to the script with director Alex Ranarivelo. Sean Patrick Flanery is actually a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Ricardo “Franginha” Miller. I’ve watched several interviews with Sean Patrick Flanery and I’m super impressed with his passion and dedication to fitness and mental discipline. He said he tried to include everything that was important to him in his life in this movie. He said it’s his personal love letter to family, legacy, and jiu-jitsu.
Who doesn’t love Golden Globe nominee Dennis Quaid? He has been in quite a few softer, gentler movies recently and, in this movie, but he plays a tough guy with a soft side again.
Believe it or not, no stunt doubles were used for any of the fights or sparring scenes!
The shots that represent Dubai were actually filmed in Morocco. The fight tent in Dubai was actually built inside the gym at Tomales High School in California.
When Mickey is first seen in the movie teaching a student, it’s with an actual student at the school where they shot the movie in Petaluma, California. The student went to school one day and had no idea the building was closed for filming. The director asked him to stay and he ended up in the movie!
The adorable little boy named Kyd, is played by both Porter Louis Flanery and Charlie T. Flanery. They’re Sean Patrick Flanery’s children in real life. He has taught his kids self-defense because he thinks it’s so important for everyone to know, although he admits that he never tried to pressure his kids into competing in the sport.
I appreciated the conversation between two of the characters about God. Something happens in the story that is terrible and so one of the characters is very angry with God. That’s very realistic and was a touching scene.
There are some cameo performances by MMA fighters Renzo Gracie, Mickey Gall, and Edson Barboza.
Keep watching during the rolling credits for a sweet scene.
Nice music soundtrack by Austin Wintory.
The movie looks like a low-budget film, but the story is compelling enough that you don’t care.
Katrina Bowden plays the love interest in the story and is just lovely. Being a stay-at-home mom has been looked down on in recent years, so I really liked that her character boldly claimed that was what she really wanted to do in life because it was such an important job.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

There are a lot of scenes in the trailer that actually don’t show in the final movie.
The fight scenes are pretty short, but mostly because Mickey Kelley threw down his opponents so quickly!
Not very much humor to balance out the drama and action.
There is a short conversation between Mickey Kelley and another character (no spoiler alert here) where a side story is shared. The trailer alludes to it but in the actual film, you only get this short conversation. I would have liked to know more about that part of Mickey Kelley’s life.
As a triumphant sports movie, it’s very predictable with lots of cliched characters.

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