Directed by: David Michod
Written by: David Michod and Mirrah Foulkes
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, Jess Gabor, Ethan Embry, Chad L. Coleman, and Katy O’Brian
Runtime: 135 minutes
‘Christy’: Martin and Sweeney are unanimous winners
Ronda Rousey dominated the women’s MMA conversation and became the fierce face of the sport during the first half of the 2010s (and the rise of social media), and with good reason. This striking and fearsome 5’ 7” mixed martial artist struck and intimidated opponents into speedy submissions and defeats, some matches lasting just 14 and 16 seconds, in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
Speaking of time, 30 years prior, Christy Renea Salters, otherwise known as Christy Martin, had a similar pioneering run in the boxing ring during the 1990s and beyond. This 2020 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee made the cover of “Sports Illustrated” in 1996, slugged her way into placing women’s boxing into the American consciousness, and finished her career with 49 wins, 7 losses, and 3 draws.
In 2025, Sydney Sweeney (“Americana” (2023), “Euphoria” (2019 – Present), “The White Lotus” (2021 – Present)) portrays this trailblazing athlete in “Christy”, an eye-opening biopic from director/co-writer David Michod (“Animal Kingdom” (2010)) that leaves a mark.
During a recent “Toronto Sun” interview with Martin and Sweeney, Martin said, “It’s very overwhelming, but to see someone like Sydney Sweeney, the IT girl in Hollywood, out there on the screen portraying me and bringing my life to life and just the struggles. Hopefully by showing this (movie) to so many other people, we’re going to change lives.”
After watching Sweeney’s transformative and absorbing performance, as well as the candid experiences portrayed on screen, it becomes clear that Martin’s citation does not refer to her matches within the squared circle. Michod’s film documents her ring career but also Christy’s combative, contentious relationship with her controlling husband, Jim Martin (Ben Foster).
Her story offers both an athletic fairy tale and a cautionary one.
Set in Christy’s home state of West Virginia, and then Tennessee and Florida, Michod and Mirrah Foulkes’ screenplay follows Ms. Salters’ first steps into the sport as a young adult and then throughout her fighting career.
Sweeney, cinematographer Germain McMicking, the stunt team, and the sound department work closely to chronicle the in-ring pugilism, where the camera lens sits – seemingly – inches away from Martin and her opponents while their jabs, crosses, hooks, and uppercuts smash into faces and torsos. The fights feel authentic, as the women break boundaries and blood vessels, and carry substantial drama, as this small-town 5’ 5” girl surprises on-screen boxing audiences as well as theatrical ones.
Conversely, director Benny Safdie’s recent UFC biopic release, “The Smashing Machine” starring Dwayne Johnson, films Mark Kerr’s (Johnson) matches from outside the ropes, a decision that results in an actual distance from the action, which lessens the emotional impact.
Meanwhile, in “Christy”, the physical and emotional tussles emerge as dangerously close and confrontational. Sweeney immerses herself as Martin, later nicknamed “The Coal Miner’s Daughter, an “awe shucks” underdog in earlier battles who evolves into a showboating, confident combatant as her career progresses.
The film proudly plays prevalent and playful tracks from the era, as familiar toe-tapping INXS and Young MC tunes are turned up to 11. In other moments, Antony Partos’ score casts doubt, melancholy, and doom.
Sweeney is a wonder on-screen and embraces the considerable turns in Christy’s life, ones that the aforementioned music follows. She successfully juggles Martin’s revolution of her sport as well as her coping mechanisms with both the subtle and blatant abuses within her marriage. Christy frequently tiptoes on a tightrope when dealing with Jim, balancing frank discourse with a risk of deplorable consequences in their living room or kitchen on an ordinary Wednesday or remaining silent to avoid them.
Foster’s Jim Martin is a menacing presence. Jim is generally quiet but carries a dim, vacant stare while occasionally uttering shallow observations or regulatory ones towards Christy. His talented, twinkling wife overshadows him, as shown by their first meeting with Don King (wonderfully played by Chad L. Coleman). Jim, at least 20 years older than Christy, is fully aware of this fact.
Martin is also forced to muddle through a contentious relationship with her mother, Joyce (Merritt Wever), who is a constant source of frustration. Joyce regularly spouts displeasing religious overtures that would not pass muster in 2025, and her dour disposition will remind moviegoers of Maggie Fitzgerald’s (Hillary Swank) contentious mom in “Million Dollar Baby” (2004).
Michod doesn’t document Christy’s record during the film’s 135-minute runtime until the film’s end, so “math nerds” as well as general audiences don’t get calculations of her victories (and losses) along the way. Still, “Christy” has plenty of boxing matches which will please the sport’s fans, and the movie’s second half delves more into Ms. Martin’s stressful life outside the arenas and gyms.
Christy Martin valiantly stepped into boxing and paved the way for generations of female fighters, but she demonstrates even more courage in recounting her affecting story.
Martin and Sweeney are unanimous winners.
Jeff’s ranking
3/4 stars
