The highly anticipated boxing biopic Christy, starring Sydney Sweeney as groundbreaking 1990s female boxing champion Christy Martin, has received a brutal critical reception for failing to capture the power and nuance of its compelling real-life story.
A Story That Should Pack a Punch
Director and co-writer David Michôd's film tells the remarkable true story of Christy Salters Martin, who rose to become the world's most successful female boxing champion during the 1990s and 2000s under the promotion of legendary boxing figure Don King. However, the film struggles to balance her professional triumphs with the horrific domestic abuse she endured outside the ring.
The movie attempts to contrast Martin's dominance in women's boxing with the misogynist nightmare she faced at home, particularly from her husband and manager Jim Martin, played by Ben Foster. The real Christy Martin has spoken openly about how her husband repeatedly threatened to kill her throughout their twenty-year relationship.
Performance and Direction Criticisms
Critics have particularly singled out Sydney Sweeney's performance as uninspired and undirected, creating a fatal lack of power at the film's core. This comes as a disappointment given Sweeney's acclaimed work in the FBI interrogation drama Reality, which showcased her capabilities as a detailed and compelling performer.
Ben Foster's portrayal of the manipulative Jim Martin, complete with combover and paunch, appears to have engaged director Michôd more than the central character herself. The film also features Merritt Wever in the poorly written role of Christy's homophobic mother Joyce, described as cartoonish in her suspicions about Christy's relationships with other women.
Missed Opportunities and Narrative Flaws
The film's approach to boxing sequences has drawn criticism for its unbroken string of euphoric victories that become tiresome, ignoring the reality that Martin occasionally lost fights and that such losses are crucial to a boxer's development. The movie barely acknowledges her defeat to Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, and pointedly avoids showing the actual moment of loss.
More troublingly, the film fails to deliver on multiple fronts - it lacks the power of traditional boxing movies, doesn't adequately address the importance of domestic abuse and coercive control themes, and misses the sensory detail of true crime storytelling. Instead, it relies heavily on the simple fact of a woman pioneering in a male-dominated sport.
Christy will be available in UK and Irish cinemas from 28 November, though early reviews suggest it may struggle to find its audience given the disappointing execution of such a powerful real-life story.
