Christy

Based on the true story of women’s boxing pioneer Christy Salters, the hard-hitting sports drama Christy is a punchy, visceral and, at times, overwhelmingly brutal depiction of the sporting life and behind-the-scenes abuses endured by a larger-than-life boxing personality at the hands of her trainer-turned-husband Jim Martin.

The film opens with Salters as a loud-mouthed teen, who, on the back of the win of, in a town full of blue-collar coal miners, West Virginia’s Tough Man competition is approached by a small-time promoter who pulls her into the freshly-blooming world of Women’s Boxing. Salters, played by Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, Anyone But You), soon, against her better judgment, pairs up with sleazy boxing trainer Jim (Ben Foster), with whom she begins her professional career and later marries. With a heavy left-hook and an even meaner collection of insults, Salters (now Martin) flies through opponents at the professional level but, as she reignites a friendship with her teenage girlfriend in the wake of Jim’s growing grip over her life in and outside of the ring, Christy descends further into a tale of domestic abuse and violence that reaches truly horrifying heights.

Helmed by director David Michôd (The King, War Machine), Christy is packed with some excellent visual storytelling – from some dynamic in-the-ring fight choreography, to its razor-sharp editing. One particular standout moment sees abrasively straight-talking boxing promoter Don King (played by a scene-stealing Chad Coleman) berate Salters about the fleeting nature of her career, and with a snap of his fingers, sends us from her prime in 1995 to her decline in 2003, as Salters prepares for her historic but ill-fated bout against Laila Ali. 

With a note-perfect outing from an unrecognisable Sweeney, who reportedly having underwent boxing training for three months in preparation to for the role, carves a strikingly powerful but emotionally vulnerable figure that will surely generate some buzz this coming awards season. Foster likewise gives a startling performance as the volatile yet progressively dead-eyed Jim, and an underused Katy O’Brien provides some much-needed human levity with her brief depiction of Salters’s one-time rival and future wife Lisa Holewyne.

In spite of some plodding in the first hour and being let down by some clear penny-saving in it’s production (Fosters’s wigs will go down as some of the worst in recent years), the movie gains real unstoppable momentum in it’s second act and, at it’s best, Christy throws all the necessary punches needed to make this feature a total knockout and showcases a career defining performance from it’s lead Sweeney. who brings her A-game with an impressively physical performance as the resilient boxing legend. An unwaveringly shocking but entirely gripping watch, Christy is a must-see drama that will have you believing in the sports biopic once again.

Ronan Fawsitt

Christy is released nationwide on 28^th November 2025.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Christy here: