BEAST (2026)

Here's the trouble with Beast: it's a good movie in the wrong package. Daniel MacPherson gives Patton James real weight as a former MMA star trying to stay out of the cage for his family's sake, and Russell Crowe brings gravity to his role as Patton's estranged trainer. The pro-family heart of the story — a man torn between a promise to his wife and a debt-ridden brother who needs him — is genuine and moving.

But Movieguide's own reviewers call this one excessive, and the content backs that up. Around 90 obscenities, more than 58 of them "f" words, pour through the dialogue. The fight scenes are brutal, and one character dies on-screen. None of that is offset enough by the film's better instincts toward love and forgiveness — revenge, not redemption, drives most of the plot forward.

A well-made film can still be the wrong film for your evening. This is one of them: skip it.

Patton James was once an MMA star on the rise — until a prison stint ended his career. Ten years later, he's a struggling commercial fisherman, promising his wife he's done fighting, and drowning in debt. Then his estranged younger brother lands in a coma after a bout with Patton's old rival, Xavier Grau, and Patton learns his brother also owes a dangerous $50,000 gambling debt.

A rematch with Grau could solve everything — if Patton can bring himself to break his promise, and if the fight ever gets sanctioned at all.

Three stars means this one is genuinely well made — just not made for you to watch. The performances carry real weight; MacPherson anchors the film, and Russell Crowe's turn as the disillusioned trainer gives the story some gravity beyond the standard sports-drama beats. The pro-family thread — a man weighing his word to his wife against his loyalty to his brother — gives the plot an emotional spine that's rarer in this genre than it should be.

What keeps it from being recommendable isn't the craft; it's everything layered on top of it. The fight choreography is effective but brutal, and the film leans on that brutality — plus a script soaked in profanity — far more than the story needed.

Beast has a real moral center. It's a strong, pro-family story at heart, with moments of genuine love and forgiveness between its characters — a brother trying to make things right, a husband trying to keep his word. That's worth acknowledging, and it's likely why the craft earned three stars.

But revenge, not reconciliation, is the engine that actually drives the plot. Patton and his rival circle each other for wrongs done and grudges held, and the film never quite manages to answer that cycle with something better. Tellingly, the end-credits song pleads, "God help the beast in me" — an honest admission that something ugly is loose in this story, but not an answer to it.

Scripture doesn't leave revenge unanswered the way this film does. "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God" (Romans 12:19). The ache this movie can't resolve — the desire to make wrongs right by our own hands — only finds real rest when it's surrendered to a justice bigger than ourselves.

Beast has real merit — good performances, a genuine pro-family heart, a story worth caring about. But the excessive profanity, the brutality, and a revenge motif the film never resolves push it well past what we can recommend. Same answer we opened with: skip it. Looking for something to watch instead? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.