Russell Crowe won the Oscar for Gladiator (2000), a very masculine and muscular film about a man who's compelled to fight physically. He was also nominated for his roles in The Insider (1999) and A Beautiful Mind (2001), which are about men who are tortured for intellectual or emotional reasons. These are vague and very generalized descriptions, but those things get incorporated here. I point it out because Crowe is a credited writer for this feature. This is actually the second feature where Crowe gets a writing credit. His first was Poker Face (2022), which put Crowe in the center of all the action. Here, he's mostly a supporting character and shunted to the side. He seems to be using his clout to instead shine a spotlight on other great Australian talent. Top of that list seems to be director Tyler Atkins who is making this his sophomore feature. Atkins' debut was Ocean Boy or Bosch & Rockit (2023), a film that was about balancing the strength and sensitivity between men. Atkins has the skills to handle that same balance that happens here.
Starting with the strength side, this film is about a cage fighter, an athlete who engages in combat sports like mixed martial arts or MMA. In fact, he does fights under the banner of ONE Championship. Yet, this film isn't exactly a martial arts film like a Jean Claude Van Damme or Michael Jai White film. A trailer for the upcoming Hong Kong action flick called The Furious (2026) played before this one, as both are distributed by Lionsgate, and I understand why that trailer would be attached here. Yet, I wouldn't describe this film as an action flick. It's mostly a drama, but it does have two really good fight scenes. Atkins does an incredibly good job of depicting those fights. The way those fights are shot feels incredibly immersive and visceral. The choreography is great, but the way that Atkins puts those sequences together, it never feels as if I'm watching choreography.
Daniel MacPherson (Land of Bad and Strike Back) stars as Patton James, the Australian beefcake who's known for taking down guys quickly in his cage matches. His nickname is the "General." After not having fought in over a decade and is settling down as a family man with a wife and daughter, he's gotten down on his luck. Patton works on a fishing boat off the coast of Sydney, but it's a small, fishing boat that isn't catching much fish, crabs or much other seafood. As a result, he's not making much money. This isn't good because his daughter needs medical care that could get very expensive. When he's offered money to get back into the ring or back into the MMA cage, he has to decide if he's going to come out of retirement.
Kelly Gale plays Luciana, the wife of Patton. She doesn't want him fighting any more. She knows the reasons why Patton walked away from combat sports. She knows that he suffered a serious trauma and going back into the cage could trigger him. Plus, she knows the danger as well. She doesn't want him getting injured or worse. She also knows that she has a small child that needs her father.
Mojean Aria (Reminiscence and See) plays Malon James, the younger brother of Patton. While Malon's brother is trying to retire and not fight, Malon has become an aspiring MMA fighter, really desperate to prove himself. He wants to be a star in the world of ONE Championship. He probably has an image that he wants to maintain on social media. As such, he's gone to loan sharks to borrow money, so that he can project a certain lifestyle, one he hopes to make real by going into the ring. Unfortunately, he suffers a serious brain injury and he's told that he shouldn't fight or at least fight for a long while, so that he can heal. Because of his debts and his ego, Malon doesn't want to wait. He wants to fight now, despite him being in increased danger.
He doesn't want his brother's help either because Patton has been absent from his brother's life. Patton feels obligated to do something to assist his only sibling. Malon goes to train for his fights at Sammy's Gym, which is the same gym where Patton trained. Sammy is played by Russell Crowe and in a lot of ways, Crowe is like a father figure who becomes disappointed by both of them. Given these dynamics, this film feels like Gavin O'Connor's Warrior (2011), also a film distributed by Lionsgate. Just as O'Connor nails the drama in that film, Atkins nails the drama here. It's not as complicated and the machismo here is probably dialed up a notch beyond what it should be, but I was swept up into the story, mainly due to the performance of MacPherson, opposite Aria and a great supporting cast.
Luke Hemsworth (Land of Bad and Bosch & Rockit) plays Gabriel Stone, the shady promoter and manager of one of Patton's chief rivals. He's perfect as the slimy guy who baits Patton and his brother into fights, exploiting them for his own financial gain.
Bren Foster is an actor who started out in soap operas like Home and Away (1988) and Days of Our Lives (1965), but he's also been in more action-oriented television like The Last Ship (2014). With his last two films, that of Mexicali (2026) and Life After Fighting (2024), which Foster wrote, directed and did the fight choreography, he's definitely in action star mode. Here, Foster plays Xavier Grau, a champion fighter in MMA and the villain here who seems pulled out of Rocky (1976) or one of its sequels. He's like Apollo Creed or Ivan Drago rolled into one. Foster also does the fight choreography here and it's very excellent. He's a black belt in various forms of martial arts and it shows.
Amy Shark and George Burress round out the cast as Rose and Neal respectively. Shark is an Australian pop star who audiences down under would recognize. Burress was a successful rugby player who was on the team for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, which is co-owned by Russell Crowe. It's funny because Burress was reportedly suspended from playing back in 2018 for an eye-gouging incident. It's funny because this film also features an eye-gouging moment. Burgess comes from a family of brothers who are all professional rugby players. As far as I could tell, George is the only one to go into acting, and hopefully he continues.
Rated R for language, some violence, bloody images, sexual material and nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 54 mins.
In theaters.
