Peaceful Warrior

I read this book when I was 19 and it actually changed my life. (I even became a Vegetarian. LONG before it became popular in the Midwest.) This movie was just OK. I'm glad I did not have to pay to see it. I took my Wife with me to see it and she, having not read the book, was confused as to how this story could have had such a profound effect on me. The movie is like a rather poor cliff-notes version of the book. The acting is a bit wooden and you never get to know the main character enough to care much about him. There are some significant changes to the plot from the book to the movie. These are major changes that reduce the importance and context of the lessons and reduce this to a "Karate-Kid" (as some other reviewers noticed) without a good script or decent action sequences and only so-so acting. Frankly, Sting would have been a better choice for the casting of Socrates.

My advice would be to read the book and skip the movie unless you "REALLY" like one of the actors in it and will see anything they make just because.

I was invited to a screening of The Peaceful Warrior in NYC Thursday April 13th, having just learned of this film's existence a few days earlier.

I was looking forward to the film, but with some trepidation, considering that prior attempts at communicating spiritually oriented books or ideas had fallen short of my expectations and had fundamentally failed to convey to the audience a transforming inner experience; witness What the Bleep, Siddhartha, Little Buddha, and others.

Let me say this, simply and directly. They got it right this time, and they did it in a way which could be embraced by crowds at the multiplexes. By impressing the discovery of bona fide spiritual truths on a recognizable sports template, the movie makers will be carrying under-appreciated ideas and experiences to the masses. At least I hope so! I actually woke up early the morning after seeing this, with my mind full of things I might say in an exhaustive review. Never in my life have I felt that way about a movie before.

The reason this movie succeeds is that it follows one of the most basic rules for good story-telling: it shows rather than tells. Although some fundamental spiritual ideas are described with words, it is the plot and character development that proves the truth of those words. You see the transcendence and the realizations in the faces of the characters, and you are not left to wonder why. You understand.

The story, based on a book by Dan Millman, follows a college gymnast who has great potential but whose desire for success is one of the main obstacles standing in the way of that potential. In his mindless pursuit of a goal, he becomes sucked into the deep dark hole of life-is-what-happens-while-you're-making-other-plans. In its simplest message, our hero's real challenge is to find happiness by being present and finding interest and love for what's right in front of him.

The film doesn't try to oversimplify the content of a spiritual path into a single dogma; there are many other seeds of thought strewn along the path by Socrates, each of which could have been the basis for a different struggle to transcend relative unconsciousness.

For many years I have been convinced that non-religious spiritual thought and experience could be something to drive the world in a new direction. This movie provides an example of what life can be like if we ponder these thoughts and implement them in our lives in a concrete and practical way. It's not necessary to be a champion gymnast to derive the fundamental teachings from this film. It is a teaching that anyone can understand. This is why I see that The Peaceful Warrior can inspire those who embrace the possibilities which it offers to become peaceful guerrilla warriors, working tirelessly underneath the radar, changing the world.

This is not only a good movie, it's an important one.

A truly inspiring movie that everyone can relate to in some way. This movie is not going to please everyone because you have to see it for what it is, a movie about self awareness, its not a typical 'lets go out on a Friday night to be entertained' kind of movie. It's not just about gymnasts; anyone can relate to it. Take this movie for what it is, don't read too far into the message and you will enjoy it. Some people are saying it's a cheesy movie with an overplayed message, but I say that those people don't even see what the movie is about. Maybe it didn't speak to them, and maybe their expectations were off. The message is certainly not over-played, and there needs to be more movies of this up-coming genre.

As a huge fan of this book, I applaud Nic, Scott and the production team involved in getting this movie off the ground. This story must not have been easy to get made. But this is the most important movie of today, for today. I did find the musical cues to be overly used and not as dramatic as they could've been, but aside from this I was at the edge of my seat, waiting for NIc to add some wisdom to my life, so that I can go out there and be a better person. Nic, as the character of Soc does just that. The movie delivers where it should, straight to your heart. In this day of the much necessary age of awareness I HIGHLY recommend anyone who wants to be better and even be the best they can be to go and watch this film, recommend this film, watch it again, buy it on DVD and support these types of projects in any way you can. Imagine if we can get the kids of today to truly understand the lessons presented in this movie - it could change the world and the medium of film reaches enough people to do just that.

I saw this movie at a screening,(ironically at UCLA) and I really liked it. The only part I didn't like about it was the odd editing they did to make UCLA look like Cal. Of course, I'm a Bruin, so maybe I could tell the differences more.

The movie itself was sad, but at the same time, inspiring. One of the best parts of this movie is the student-teacher relationship between Dan and Socrates, his mentor. This movie hits home because it almost portrays the classic American Dream and the many people who chase it. Dan Milliman, the main character, is living the good life: he's one of the best athletes on the team, popular with the girls, still gets excellent grades. In all, his life is perfect. Yet, in a strange way, he's not entirely satisfied with his life, and you can see that the way he is living isn't good for his well-being. When he meets his mentor, he goes through an entire mental cleansing that is portrayed with humor and poignancy.

In the end, the point of this movie is not whether he reaches his goal or not, but the process of going there, and thats what makes this movie worthwhile.