Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Born a Champion Blu-ray Movie Review

A little. . .rocky.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 27, 2021

If you’re aware of Sean Patrick Flanery at all, chances are it’s largely for a handful of performances in films like The Boondock Saints and/or television outings like The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. You may be forgiven, therefore, for not knowing that Flanery is a martial artist of some genuine accomplishment, with a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, a fighting technique that he’s (obviously) skilled enough in to also teach. Born a Champion, a film which, well, champions jiu jitsu, has evidently been a pet project of Flanery’s for years, at least as evidenced by the commentary by his co-writer and director Alex Ranarivelo, who gets into the film's rather long and protracted gestational period. That personal connection gives Born a Champion an undeniably earnest ambience, and that feeling may be enough to help the film elide its more cliché ridden aspects, at least for some viewers. That said, this is another “underdog comes from behind to overcome considerable obstacles and maybe even personal tragedy to ultimately triumph” outing, and it can never quite escape from that tried (trite?) and true template.

Born a Champion seems to be going a quasi-documentary route some of the time, with both opening and then later interstitial “interview” comments by a character officially named Rosco (Maurice Compte), but who discloses in one of his first confessionals how he’s been nicknamed “Taco” by his best bud, an erstwhile MMA legend named Mickey Kelley (Sean Patrick Flanery). This odd cutting back and forth between more traditional narrative scenes and this supposed video interview may have been structured to help bridge some gaps in the narrative, but it often comes across as disjunctive, and in the early going at least seems like nothing other than a convenient way to offer a fairly massive exposition dump.

The film also attempts to inject some “real” history in the proceedings in terms of the formulation of “official” Mixed Martial Arts bouts (especially UFC 1, though the assertion that this particular tournament was the “beginning” of what is now known as MMA is disputed even by some ardent fans of the sport). Rosco and/or Taco takes us back to the early nineties after his introductory comments (which instantly identify Mickey as a honorable fighter for truth, justice and the American Way), where Mickey is flying to that well known mecca (no pun intended) of jiu jitsu, Dubai. On the flight he “meets cute” with a woman named Layla (Katrina Bowden), and though it takes a while for the wending plot points to be connected, he ultimately ends up marrying her and having kids with her.

Kind of weirdly, Dubai calls again a couple of years later, with a UFC-esque tournament that is offering a pretty hefty cash prize, something that Mickey has his eyes on (for only honorable purposes, of course). The tournament is being run by a guy named Mason (Dennis Quaid), who approaches Mickey at one point to disclose a personal relationship with him that goes back to Mickey’s soldier days during Desert Storm. Suffice it to say this scene is written expressly to tug at the heartstrings and once again establish that Mickey is the very model of a modern martial artist, with noble intentions and a heart of gold. Mickey actually ends up winning his first two bouts fairly quickly (perhaps too quickly for MMA fans who come to this film expecting protracted fight sequences), but is more or less pummeled into a bloody heap by his third opponent, Marco Blaine (Edson Barboza, just one of several real life MMA fighters featured in the film).

Though pretty badly injured, Mickey retreats more or less happily back into his home life with Kayla, until a little thing known as the internet turns up a video of his fight with Blaine, which seems to show that Blaine cheated in his supposed victory over Mickey. Can you feel the plot points being assembled piece by piece? Suffice it to say a rematch is in the offing, but not before other obstacles (and maybe even a personal tragedy) intrude, making the stakes all the higher.

There's actually quite a bit about Born a Champion to like, at least within the context of a sports themed film that is resolutely bound by genre tropes. If the fight scenes are never really very extended, and "character development" virtually nonexistent, Flanery's passion for jiu jitsu comes through quite clearly, and the film offers at least a bit of background on this particular technique, even if the actual technique itself could have arguably been exploited a bit more effectively. Born a Champion makes no bones (broken, battered or otherwise) about wanting to go for the gusto in terms of its emotional component, and those with a soft spot for come from behind (in more ways than one) victories will probably find the film at least intermittently touching.

Born a Champion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Born a Champion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and Grindstone Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Sony Cinealta as the camera utilized, and I'm assuming the DI was finished at 2K. Despite what was probably a less than fulsome budget (at least as evidenced by the commentary, which gets into how quickly some things needed to be shot), this is a rather handsome looking presentation a lot of the time. While there really aren't any eye popping visuals to speak of, detail levels are consistently high for the most part (there are a few passing deficits in dark scenes), and the palette is typically very nicely suffused. Fine detail can actually be a little stomach churning at times, as in a close-up of Mickey after his smackdown, where he's rather badly injured. Ranarivelo and cinematographer Reuben Steinberg evidently really like backlighting, and several scenes are suffused with a soft glow around the characters, something that can slightly mask fine detail at times.

Born a Champion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Born a Champion features a decent if somewhat subdued (given the martial arts aspect, anyway) DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The fight scenes definitely have good surround activity, but as alluded to above, they're relatively brief. A lot of this film is given over more toward personal dramatics, and as such surround activity can be limited at times to either scoring or ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available, though I discovered a kind of curious anomaly when I used the subtitle button on my remote (rather than accessing the subtitles through the Pop Up Menu). When I pressed "subtitle" for the first time it went to a "phantom" third choice labeled English, which did nothing. Pressing it again got me back around to choice 1, which was the "real" English subtitles.

Born a Champion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Director's Commentary


• Final Fight with Alternate Score Music (1080p; 11:14) is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.


• The Jimmy Fight with Alternate Score Music (1080p; 4:08) is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.


• Born a Champion Trailer (1080p; 2:20)

Born a Champion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As mentioned above, there's a lot to like about Born a Champion, including Flanery's very real and sweet connection to his own sons, who are featured in the film. On the minus side, I've personally seen one too many films with a scene of two guys standing at urinals shooting the breeze as they pee. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.