Beast (2026) review: Russell Crowe delivers powerful performance in electrifying MMA movie

While it’s the mixed martial artists themselves who revel in the glory of fight night, it’s the coaches who devise the game plans that give their students the opportunity to deliver awe-inspiring moments for the fans.

Beast beautifully explores the tumultuous relationship between fighter (Daniel MacPherson) and trainer (Russell Crowe), with the actors producing phenomenal performances that stick long in the memory.

Russell Crowe and Daniel MacPherson shine in Beast

Beast opens with a powerful image: Crowe, playing Coach Sammy, wanders through the backstage area of a ONE Championship show, passing fighters, who are sporting the cuts and bruises of having gone to war inside the cage.

Upon his arrival at Patton James’ changing room, Sammy is appalled that an environment designed to give an athlete a moment of calm before walking out into the storm, has been turned into a chaotic environment, with music blasting from the speakers, courtesy of the sportsman’s brother, Malon James (Mojean Aria), whom the trainer quickly boots out of the room.

Unlike his maverick of a sibling, Patton is nervous about the contest, throwing up in the sink, making viewers understand the unfathomable weight that elite fighters carry on their shoulders.

However, he’s quickly calmed down by his head coach, who implements a fundamental rule into his head that becomes a theme throughout the film: “If I can breathe, then I can think. If I can think, then I can win.”

The opening sequence does a masterful job of giving the audience a perfect insight into who these people are. Sammy won’t take any nonsense, Malon could spiral into the deep end at any given moment, and Patton, while incredibly gifted, needs a mentor behind him to ensure he can perform to his optimum ability.

Then, just as the icon is about to walk out in front of his adoring fans, the film magnificently segues to a fishing boat. Many years have passed for our hero. Gone are the days of the bright lights and big fights, and in their place are tough seas and pay cheques minuscule in comparison to the ones he was receiving at the peak of his powers.

This sets up a mystery. Why did Patton walk away from the sport he once held so close to his heart, and what has happened to Sammy?

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The former athlete now has a caring wife and daughter, who love him for the man he is today, not the mixed martial artist he once was. And while financially, times are tough, a return to action isn’t seemingly on the horizon anytime soon.

However, when the ONE Championship title holder, Xavier Grau (Bren Foster), who once lost to the main character in just six seconds, renders Malon unconscious and follows it up with an illegal punch, it isn’t just the protagonist who wants to ensure his sibling is avenged, but the audience, too.

When approached by Grau’s manager, Gabriel Stone, played by Liam Hemsworth, at the hospital, where his brother is being treated, Patton is goaded, and later succumbs to his fighting instincts, agreeing to avenge Malon, despite having spent over a decade out of action.

With just seven weeks to prepare, the superstar returns to the gym, where he’s met with a staggeringly frosty reception from Sammy, leaving the audience wondering whether these two men can make amends before it’s too late.

Beast doesn’t take a fun approach to the genre, rather a visceral one, exploring a warrior’s unrelenting desire to fight, possibly better than any other film in recent memory, which, when combined with breathtaking performances from Crowe and MacPherson, as well as cameos from Demetrious Johnson and Herb Dean, makes this movie one that members of the combat sports community can’t afford to miss.

Beast will be available on Digital Download from June 1.

Featured Image Credit: Vertigo Releasing