Beast

Daniel MacPherson stars as ferocious MMA fighter Patton James in Australian drama Beast. After a decade away from the ring, Patton works on a fishing trawler and has become estranged from his former trainer, Sammy (Russell Crowe). With bills mounting up and the news of a baby on the way, he agrees to one last fight against the reigning champion, Xavier Grau (Bren Foster) to support his family. Grau is an amalgamation of the brute strength of Ivan Drago and the villainy of Johnny Lawrence, who still holds a vendetta against Patton after suffering a humiliating defeat against him years ago. The rivalry only grows more personal when the life of Patton’s younger brother (Mojean Aria) is put in danger.

Helmed by Tyler Atkins and co-written by Crowe and David Frigerio, Beast hits all the right narrative beats and is carried by a commanding turn from MacPherson. However, it frequently overreaches with its theatrics, replacing the grit with melodrama.

The feature follows the tried-and-tested blueprint of underdog sports dramas. Patton is the grizzled fighter who has a matter of weeks to prepare for the biggest match of his life. Crowe is the grouchy coach upset that his protégé threw away a promising career, and Kelly Gale plays Luciana, the loving wife who Patton swore to that he’d never fight again. The script never tries to do anything revolutionary, but it largely works due to the committed performances from the cast. MacPherson is a force of nature throughout. Every ounce of the character’s rage and determination is felt through each punch, which makes for an exhilarating and satisfying final showdown.

The feature’s main issue is that it overdoes it when it comes to the genre’s conventions. Heated standoffs are frequent and exaggerated to the point where they become cartoonish displays of masculine bravado. A constant stream of over-the-top sound effects likewise detracts from the otherwise visceral fight scenes. And the score has a habit of hamming up key dramatic moments.

Beast is a film that wants to include every underdog movie trope within a two-hour runtime. While MacPherson’s starring performance is strong enough to carry the feature to its finale, its reliance on clichés and over-the-top dramatics stops the blows from hitting as hard as they should.