With inspirational sports movies a dime a dozen these days, it's become redundant to call them out for having virtually the same story. Fortunately, although the storytelling approach in director Victor Salva's Peaceful Warrior brings out the hokier elements of its plot, some earnest performances go a long way in boosting the film's emotional punch.

Based upon true events, Peaceful Warrior tells the story of Dan Millman (Scott Mechlowicz), a talented but cocky college gymnastics star. He's a wizard on the rings, but he leads an empty life of constant parties and sleeping around. That is until one restless night, when Dan crosses paths with an old mechanic he names "Socrates" (Nick Nolte) at a service station. Socrates gradually becomes Dan's unofficial mentor, helping guide him to achieving better self-discipline and ridding his mind of all things unimportant. Soon, however, Dan grows tired of Socrates' philosophy and reverts quickly back to his old ways. But after suffering an injury which threatens to take away everything Dan worked for, it's through Socrates that our young protagonist must learn to start picking up the pieces of his broken life -- and fast.

If you haven't heard of Peaceful Warrior, you're not alone. It was released by Lionsgate last year to crummy box office and even worse reviews. Why has Universal re-released the film into theaters now? At best, Peaceful Warrior falls in the middle of the road as far as movies like this are concerned, sticking pretty close to the standard, Karate Kid-style formula while bringing enough to the table not to come across as a total washout. More than anything, the film marks a huge change of pace for director Salva, best known for the Jeepers Creepers horror flicks. Too bad his attempts at throwing some funky visuals (including a prophetic opening scene where Dan Millman dreams of his leg literally shattering into a zillion little pieces) into the mix tend to be somewhat laughable. Still, for the most part, Salva has a sure hand with his storytelling. He may harvest a lot of corn along the way, but he doesn't forget that this kind of story has a few inspirational kernels to chew on.

As far as content goes, Peaceful Warrior is about as fresh as month-old milk. The plot consists of the same ol' routine that's been done many times before: brash kid hooks up with wise mentor, mentor deals out homespun philosophy, kid succeeds at sports and gets the girl (played by Amy Smart in this film, in a role  that seriously shortchanges her sparkling personality). Peaceful Warrior is absolutely nothing new (even the "based on a true story" tag has been overplayed to death in the movies) and indeed gets a little tiring as it goes through its genre's motions for the umpteenth time. However, what gives Peaceful Warrior a bit of a leg up on the competition are its solid performances. Mechlowicz turns in a credible turn as the gifted but confused Dan, and Smart does her best with such a teensy amount of screen time, but this show definitely belongs to Nolte, who, as Socrates, lends an air of mystery and experience to the basic role of "the old guy who knows everything." He spins the movie's pseudo-philosophical dialogue into nuggets of wisdom -- and the film is all the better for it.

I doubt Peaceful Warrior will fare any better at its second theatrical tour of duty than at its first, but once it hits DVD, I think this slightly stale but wholly decent tale of overcoming personal adversity will find its audience.

MY RATING: ** 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Universal and rated "PG-13" for sensuality, sex references and accident scenes. )