Christy (2025), Dir David Michôd, Black Bear Pictures, 3☆☆☆. Review: Matthew Alicoon.

Christy (2025), Dir David Michôd, Black Bear Pictures, 3☆☆☆.

Review: Matthew Alicoon.

Running Time: 135 Minutes

“A nuanced portrait of manipulation and legacy, anchored impeccably by Sweeney.”

Christy follows the rise of professional American boxer Christine Renea Salters who became America’s best-known female boxer in the 1990s. Alongside Christy’s rise to fame, it depicts the number of years she was involved in an abusive relationship with her husband James V. Martin.

Christy tells a story of remarkable intensity, charting the life and legacy of Christy Martin with precision and realism. Director David Michôd, working from a screenplay co-written from Mirrah Foulkes  grounds the story with an authenticity that allows the film to navigate a realised picture of the boxing spectacle, along with the intimate dynamics of Christy’s personal life. The film painstakingly reconstructs her relationship with James V. Martin, gradually revealing the multitude of layers with power, control and manipulation that truly defined it. While the film follows the conventions of a sports biopic and does little to reinvent its structural formula, this homage allows it to function with levity as a deeply educational and emotionally charged piece. A significant step up from The Smashing Machine.

Sydney Sweeney delivers an utterly commanding and dominant performance. It is arguably a career-defining performance, continuing her titanically expansive career from her roles in Echo Valley and a criminally underrated performance in Eden. In this film Sydney Sweeney brings a rare combination of charming innocence and susceptibility, rendering the boxer’s confidence in the ring alongside the instability of her personal life with astonishing dexterity. There is an immediacy to her presence, as moments of innocence juxtapose the subtle unrevealed signs of her struggles in an abusive marriage. Sweeney’s performance meticulously showcases the moral clarity of Christy, not being afraid to show such sheer vulnerability of being unable to read the room of how to react to her abusive husband.

Ben Foster’s portrayal of James Martin is starkly contrasting, deliberately one-note yet unnervingly cold hearted. The character’s oppressive persona is felt from his first appearance, where Foster delivers a relentless embodiment of domination. While Ben Foster’s performance did initially feel underexplored in complexity, the soullessness he conveys is purposeful and alarming, particularly as the narrative tackles the 2010s period. The film’s handling of the manipulation – both within the script and the visual storytelling – is impressively sensitive and candid. Christy captures the psychological subtleties of coercion and domination, without feeling melodramatic.

The biggest issue of the film is the occasional heavy-handedness, particularly in the dialogue when examining James’ masculinity and Christie’s sexuality of being true to herself. At times, the screenplay favours verbal exposition over subtlety, choosing to vocalise thematic points rather than allowing them slowly to emerge through character dynamics and interactions. These moments needed a restrained approach by letting us consider the implications. By reflecting subtleties slower it would have enriched the emotional and intellectual resonance of the story, as we would have been able to understand the mindsets more of what it takes for people to hold these views and be quite drawn back with the vocalisation of opinions.

As it stands though, Christy succeeds in its core ambition of bringing Christy Martin’s story to life with an expansive scope. The film ensures that viewers without any boxing knowledge gain a comprehensive and compelling understanding of Christy’s legacy. Certain elements could have been conceived with greater subtlety. In a career already defined by her ever-growing gravitas, Sydney Sweeney delivers a performance of commanding and precision, one that stands as unforgettable in her increasingly diverse and striking career.

Cast

Sydney Sweeney as Christy Salters Martin

Ben Foster as James V. Martin

Merritt Wever as Joyce Salters

Katy O'Brian as Lisa Holewyne

Ethan Embry as John Salters

Coleman Pedigo as Randy Salters

Jess Gabor as Rosie

Crew

Director – David Michôd

Screenwriter – Mirrah Foulkes & David Michôd

Producers - Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Teddy Schwarzman, Brent Stiefel, Justin Lothrop, David Michôd & Sydney Sweeney

Cinematographer – Germain McMicking

Editor – Matt Villa

Music – Antony Partos