After portraying emotional youngsters, a terrorized nun, and a would-be superhero, Sydney Sweeney continues to develop her vary with numerous initiatives. Her newest buzzy film, David Michôd’s Christy, offers her maybe her meatiest function but – in addition to her most mature. The query forward of its Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition world premiere was whether or not Sweeney’s efficiency can be good or nice.
It is someplace in between, although it is hardly Sweeney’s fault that she would not soundly crack the latter finish of that. The movie is a biopic overlaying the inspirational true story of Christy Martin, the skilled boxer who shattered the glass ceiling for feminine fighters and made historical past together with her many achievements. Martin is a superb topic for a film, and each side of her life – together with the scariest moments – deserves to be coated.
The issue is that Christy is nearly like two totally different initiatives crammed into one, and it leaves its protagonist feeling much less like a fleshed-out individual and extra like an archetype. There are some parts that Michôd (who additionally penned the film with Katherine Fugate and Mirrah Foulkes) does rather well, whereas others left me completely baffled and disconnected.
Christy Reveals The Highs & Lows Of Christy Martin’s Life (& Goes All In On The Latter)
Christy begins with Martin’s introduction to the world {of professional} boxing in 1989 and covers the meteoric rise of her profession, which noticed her develop into essentially the most profitable feminine fighter on the planet. Her punches are fast and fierce, every one touchdown so solidly and vividly onscreen that we are able to virtually really feel the affect ourselves. Sweeney sinks her enamel into the physicality of this function and recreates Martin’s power.
Concurrently this success, Martin was shedding herself increasingly in an abusive relationship together with her trainer-turned-husband, Jim (a chilling Ben Foster). What begins as a misguided sexual relationship, partly spurred by Christy avoiding her true sexuality to take care of Jim’s help, devolves into one thing more and more scary and insidious. At no level does Michôd try and romanticize what went down between them of their early days.
Christy’s near-death expertise at Jim’s palms, whether or not about it or not, comes as a brutal shock. Michôd rightly would not sanitize any a part of what Martin went by means of; the truth is, he course-corrects too a lot – and no movie that goals to inform her story ought to.
Nevertheless, for a lot of its runtime, Christy unfurls like a by-the-books sports activities biopic: coaching and match montages interspersed between fast, easy glimpses on the athlete’s private life, overlaying 20 years of her time within the ring. We get the beginning of her pink-clad, trash-talking combating persona, her first interactions together with her eventual spouse Lisa Holewyne (Katy O’Brien), and the bodily difficulties she began going through after years of combating.
Michôd reveals a deft hand on the subject of Christy’s queerness, which is rarely handled as a clumsy gimmick, and her relationships together with her different trainers. On the identical time, although, it is like we’re held at a distance; we see Martin going about her life and reaching these items, however it by no means looks like we see her.
This suspicion was solely reaffirmed by Martin’s look on the TIFF premiere, when she admitted she’s really a really shy individual, which is one thing that does not actually come by means of within the film itself. The Martin we see onscreen is broadly drawn, which solely offers Sweeney a lot to do. She does job portraying Christy’s grit and dedication, however it’s rarer that we see what’s beneath.
Christy’s Unflinching Method Is An Asset & A Downside
The largest exception to that’s the last portion of the movie, which covers her preliminary try to depart Jim and his subsequent homicide try. In comparison with the remainder of Christy, this stretch virtually grinds to a halt. Michôd clearly intends to hammer house the horrifying brutality of Jim’s abuse, and hammer he does. The scene explicitly exhibiting the homicide try is maybe the longest in the entire film, forcing us to actually sit in Christy’s ache.
On one hand, the movie’s dedication to take an unflinching have a look at what occurred is commendable, and Sweeney’s efficiency right here reaches its peak. On the opposite, it is so overblown in comparison with all the things that got here earlier than that it is arduous to not really feel like Martin’s different accomplishments and milestones pale as compared.
That is particularly disappointing as a result of there are such a lot of different fascinating, beneficial components of her life that deserve equal remedy. An early second the place she reveals off precisely what she’s able to within the ring prompted cheers on the premiere, and the scenes with O’Brien’s Lisa give the film some much-needed tenderness.
Relatively than being a well-rounded have a look at Martin’s life, Christy affords a shallow, unbalanced perspective. It is mild on its toes in some components and heavy-handed in others, and although Sweeney offers a powerful efficiency, I can not assist however really feel like she deserved a greater showcase for her abilities.
Christy screened on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition and can launch in theaters on November 7.
Christy
5/10
- Launch Date
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September 5, 2025
- Runtime
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135 minutes
- Director
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David Michôd
- Writers
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Mirrah Foulkes
- Producers
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Brent Stiefel, Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Sydney Sweeney, Teddy Schwarzman, John Friedberg, Michael Heimler, Justin Lothrop, Brad Zimmerman, David Levine
- Sydney Sweeney’s dedication to the function is spectacular to see.
- Some features of Christy Martin’s story ? her queerness and her bodily struggles ? are dealt with properly.
- The again portion of the film is drawn-out and distressingly heavy-handed.
- Martin’s characterization would not transcend surface-level.
- Your entire film feels unbalanced in its tone and content material.