Christy (2025) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Christy Martin has lived an incredible life, and it makes me happy that her story has been made into a movie. 
2. Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Ethan Embry, Chad L. Coleman and Katy O’Brian are all good, but their performances are hurt by the fact that the film packs 20 years worth of story into 135 minutes.
3. In the press notes, director David Michôd defines the film as “a wild underdog sports movie that morphs into a kind of very real horror story.” He’s not wrong.
4. At certain points, the film resembles Walk Hard (the title Punch Hard comes to mind) because it adheres to biopic tropes (terrible parent, time jumps)
5. It’s worth watching because Christy Martin has been through so much. 
6. Watch the 2021 documentary Untold: Deal with the Devil on Netflix after watching the movie.

It’s easy to understand why director (Animal Kingdom, The Rover) and producer/star Sydney Sweeney wanted to make a biographical sports film about the life of Christy Martin. Martin is an all-time boxer whose story is perfect for a big-screen adaptation. Martin was plucked from “toughwoman” boxing tournaments by trainer Jim Martin (Ben Foster) and became a boxing champion who appeared on Sports Illustrated and was signed by Don King. On top of surviving thousands of punches to the head, Martin dealt with an abusive husband, a controlling mother (who hated that Christy was gay), drug abuse, sexual abuse, and she even survived a murder attempt from her husband/trainer, Jim Martin. I’ve been familiar with Martin for a long time, and when I heard Sweeney was making a biopic about her life, I became very excited because her story should be known. 

However, sport biopics are gonna be sport biopics, and there are moments when Christy starts to resemble Walk Hard (the title Punch Hard comes to mind). The film sticks closely to biopic conventions (it’s more of a collection of scenes than a complete narrative), and the constant time jumps (the film covers 20 years) halt any narrative momentum. That being said, the performances from Sweeney, Ethan Embry, Katy O’Brian, Tony Cavalero, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, and Chad L. Coleman are solid, and the movie gives them moments to shine.

Sweeney, who has a background in mixed martial arts, trained like a maniac for the film, and her physicality and willingness to film the fight scenes add a nice level of realism to the boxing matches. To prepare for the role, Sweeny gained 30 pounds,  trained with weight trainer Grant Roberts (who trained Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby) and spent months practicing her footwork, fighting techniques and weight training. The hard work paid off because she and fight/stunt coordinator Walter Garcia (Spy, I, Tonya, Grudge Match) crafted a few excellent scraps that captured Martin’s in-ring style (close-range power puncher who swarmed opponents). 

Christy works perfectly alongside the 2021 Netflix documentary Untold: Deal With the Devil. The Laura Brownson-directed doc inspired David Michôd to tackle Martin’s story, and it’s fun watching Martin explain her life in her own words. 

Final Thoughts – Christy Martin has an incredible story, and I recommend watching the movie to learn more about her life.