{"id":6514,"date":"2011-08-24T18:13:12","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T22:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=6514"},"modified":"2011-08-24T18:13:12","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T22:13:12","slug":"can-mixed-martial-arts-and-christianity-work-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/08\/can-mixed-martial-arts-and-christianity-work-together","title":{"rendered":"Can Mixed Martial Arts and Christianity work together?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Try to imagine a Christian film that features the blood-and-guts world of Mixed Martial Arts.<\/p>\n

MMA, of course,\u00a0combines the hype and show-biz of professional wrestling with the\u00a0authentic outcomes\u00a0of professional boxing, with a touch of karate, judo, Thai kick-boxing and\u00a0plain ol’ street fighting. It’s\u00a0been a big hit, particularly since the competitors on TV\u00a0are often apparent amateurs, showing up to fight in surfing\u00a0shorts.<\/p>\n

So, imagine a Hollywood film featuring the intensity of the MMA fighting cage, plus excellent acting, a gripping plot and a subtle Christian message and you’ve got Warrior.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Part of my issue with Christian films or films that have Christian elements,”\u00a0observes Beliefnet’s entertainment editor Evan Derrick,\u00a0“is that, in terms of quality, they\u2019re almost always terrible. The preachy message part of the film trumps the story and acting and cinematography, leaving Christian audiences with lukewarm feel-good films” that hardly even register on the TV movie-of-the-week quality scale.”<\/p>\n

Exceptions, of course, range from The Passion of the Christ<\/em> to Quo Vadis,<\/em> The Ten Commandments, The Robe<\/em> and even The Blind Side.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can put this film from Lionsgate in the latter category.<\/p>\n

“Set within the heart-pounding world of MMA, it actually looks good,” writes Derrick.\u00a0“Seriously! I\u2019m no fan of mixed martial arts …\u00a0but I\u2019m actually intrigued.”<\/p>\n

The film\u00a0stars Tom Hardy who you may remember from Inception,<\/em> Joel Edgerton (Legend of the Guardians<\/em>) and Nick Nolte — “who\u2019s been in, like, everything,” notes Derrick,\u00a0“so the cast is nothing to laugh at either.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to see\u00a0a preview and to\u00a0read more<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Try to imagine a Christian film that features the blood-and-guts world of Mixed Martial Arts. MMA, of course,\u00a0combines the hype and show-biz of professional wrestling with the\u00a0authentic outcomes\u00a0of professional boxing, with a touch of karate, judo, Thai kick-boxing and\u00a0plain ol’ street fighting. It’s\u00a0been a big hit, particularly since the competitors on TV\u00a0are often apparent amateurs,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[2220,1482],"class_list":["post-6514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-warrior"],"yoast_head":"\nCan Mixed Martial Arts and Christianity work together?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/08\/can-mixed-martial-arts-and-christianity-work-together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Mixed Martial Arts and Christianity work together?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Try to imagine a Christian film that features the blood-and-guts world of Mixed Martial Arts. 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