R | 1h 54m | Sports, Drama | 2026
“Beast” is more or less an Aussie version of 2011’s “Warrior,” with Russell Crowe in the Nick Nolte role and Daniel MacPherson in the Joel Edgerton role.
It’s got plenty of the visual settings we enjoy in American movies: suburban sunsets, blue collar work environments, dusks, neon lights, gas stations, bars, and backyards. With 650 million fans, MMA (mixed martial arts) is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. It therefore also has octagonal MMA fighting cages.
From MMA Cage to Fishing Cage
Former MMA champ Patton James (MacPherson) threw his professional fighting career down the toilet by getting into a bar fight and ending up in prison. Now, it’s a few years later, and the ex-con works as a commercial fisherman. He lives with his wife, Luciana (Kelly Gale) and daughter (Saphira Moran).
Making $400 a week fishing isn’t paying the bills, and the chronic lack of income threatens his daughter’s access to emergency medical treatment. Then, his wife gets pregnant again. The last straw is when the unpaid debts of his estranged little brother Malon (Mojean Aria)—also a top MMA fighter—come due.
Actually, there’s one more straw: James’s fighter legacy is threatened by a past rival. That would be reigning champion Xavier Grau (Bren Foster), whom James knocked out in 6 seconds back in the day. A solution presents itself: James is made an offer he can’t refuse by promoter Gabriel Stone (Luke Hemsworth), who manages Xavier. Can you say legendary rematch?
The fight world loves super fights—high-profile, marquee combat sports matches between two major stars, top-ranked contenders, or champs from different weight classes. Just like the upcoming May 16 Netflix extravaganza of Ronda Rousey finally fighting Gina Carano in the legendary super fight the whole MMA world wanted to see 17 years ago, but which never happened.
Gabriel initially offers James $85,000 to fight Xavier, but eventually James convinces him to bump it to $150,000. A chunk, $50,000 of the prize money, needs to cover little brother’s debts.
James hopes to reunite with his former coach Sammy (Russell Crowe), but Sammy’s in no mood to forgive his ex-fighter who destroyed both of their financial dreams. So James ends up training with Sammy’s daughter Rose (Australian pop star Amy Shark).
‘Beast’ Versus ‘Warrior’
Overall, “Beast” isn’t quite as captivating as “Warrior.” That’s because “Beast’s” two fighters are relative unknowns, whereas “Warrior” featured an all-star cast, including a blistering performance by arguably the best actor of his generation—Tom Hardy.
Joel Edgerton’s role as a school teacher who needed to do a little MMA moonlighting to pay the bills is made believable by Jennifer Morrison’s grounded turn as his wife. It’s a little hard to see past Kelly Gale—a Victoria’s Secret model of jaw-dropping beauty—being hitched to a $400-a-week fisherman. “She met me after all my fame, and loves me for me!” I’m not buying that for two seconds.
To be fair, “Beast’s” MMA fight scenes are well-shot, rousing, and gritty. The final fight will make you stand up and cheer. That’s largely because Kelly Gale does an outstanding job in the role of the can’t-help-herself wife, watching the fight on TV in the kitchen, white-knuckling the tabletop, and tearfully shouting “C’mon baby!!”
A slight difference is that with “Beast,” you don’t have to be as much of an MMA fan to find it engaging; there’s been a subtle evolution in MMA fight choreography. Boxing purists originally tended to find MMA distasteful due to having little understanding of the ground-fighting arts of wrestling, Judo, and Jiu-jitsu. They complained that it all looks a tad homoerotic, not to mention far more bloody than the average boxing match.
However, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is what all military special warfare operators study, because it’s deadly and the ur-martial art from which everything else derives. That’s what makes MMA so popular: If one opponent catches the other in any kind of choke-hold on a battlefield, that would mean certain death.
The choreography in “Beast” manages to capture the method behind the mayhem, even giving it a stylized simplicity, so that laypeople can recognize various recurring physical chess moves of chokes, cranks, joint-locks, transitions, and escapes. It also helps that Bren Foster, in real life, has a 2nd degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt. Not to mention a 7th degree blackbelt in Taekwondo.
Human Story
Underlying all the fighting, “Beast” is about flawed, relatable human beings struggling to conquer adversity and find second chances. James’s innate strength and decency make him a truly strong man. He loves his family and wants to provide for them as a good father, husband, and brother should. It’s uplifting to watch him heal his traumatic past and find resolution in his tattered relationships with his brother, wife, and former trainer. Uplifting is what we’re looking for in movies, around here.
‘Beast’
Director: Tyler Atkins
Starring: Russell Crowe, Daniel MacPherson, Luke Hemsworth, Kelly Gale, Bren Foster
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Release Date: April 10, 2026
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
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