BEAST (2026)

What You Need To Know:

BEAST is an intense MMA action movie. Daniel MacPherson stars as Patton James, a former MMA fighter whose skyrocketing career was cut short by a prison stint. Ten years later, Patton has promised his wife not to fight again, but he’s struggling to support her and their child by working as a commercial fisherman. Making matters worse, Patton’s estranged younger brother lies in a coma after fighting Patton’s former rival, Xavier Grau. Also, Patton’s brother has a $50,000 gambling debt. Patton decides to accept a rematch with his rival to pay off the gambling debt and support his family. Patton’s plan hits a snag when MMA officials refuse to sanction the fight. Then, Grau goads Patton’s younger brother, who came out of the coma and is training again, into fighting a dangerous, unsanctioned rematch.

BEAST is a compelling action movie, with some decent performances by the stars, including Russell Crowe as Patton’s former trainer. The movie has a strong pro-family perspective. However, BEAST has too many “f” words, brutal fight scenes and a strong revenge motif. So, MOVIEGUIDE® judges the movie as excessive and unacceptable.

Content:

(BB, C, LLL, VVV, NN, A, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong moral, pro-family worldview has some moments expressing love and forgiveness but revenge is a strong motif, and an end credits song pleads, “God help the beast in me”

Foul Language:

At least 90 obscenities (including at least 58 “f” words), one strong profanity mentioning the name of Jesus, and five light profanities

Violence:

Lots of very strong and strong MMA fighting with blood includes vicious punching and kicking, choking, wrestling, bad guy tries to gouge another fighter’s eye, one character falls and an object pierces his skull, causing death

Sex:

No sex

Nudity:

Partial rear female nudity at a nightclub with female dancers and upper male nudity in training and fight scenes

Alcohol Use:

Some alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Revenge is a big motivation in the MMA fights, but at least the intent is not to kill anyone, though someone dies in a fight before the final big fight.

More Detail:

BEAST is an MMA action movie about a former MMA star whose career ended by a stint in prison and decides to return to the cage to help his estranged younger brother pay off a big gambling debt, but the plan hits a snag when his rival goads his brother into fighting a dangerous, unsanctioned rematch. BEAST is a compelling action movie with a strong pro-family theme, but it has too many “f” words, brutal fight scenes and a revenge motif, so MOVIEGUIDE® judges the movie as excessive and unacceptable.

Daniel MacPherson stars as Patton James, a former MMA fighter whose skyrocketing career was cut short by a stint in prison. Ten years later, Patton is struggling to support his wife and child by working as a commercial fisherman, but he’s always getting stuck working for guys who have no luck in catching many fish. So, his debts are rising faster than a blue whale rising to the ocean’s surface.

Making matters worse, Patton’s estranged brother, Malon, has been placed in a coma after fighting Patton’s old rival, Xavier Grau. Grau is still mad after Patton beat him in Patton’s final bout. So, he’s happy to put Malon in a coma.

Grau now wants a rematch with Patton, but Patton made a promise to his wife not to fight anymore. However, Patton’s debts are piling up, and Patton learns his brother owes a big $50,000 gambling debt to a local sleazeball.

So, Patton gets Grau’s manager to promise him $150,000 for the rematch, $75,000 before the bout and $75,000 after the bout, even if Patton loses. The first $75,000 takes care of Malon’s gambling debt and gives Patton and Malon some money left over.

Patton would like his old trainer, Sammy, played by Russell Crowe, to get him into shape. However, Sammy is so upset that Patton refused to continue fighting after prison that he wants nothing to do with him. However, Sammy’s daughter, Rose, an expert MMA fighter and trainer, agrees to train Patton.

Patton and Grau’s plan for a rematch hits a snag when MMA officials refuse to sanction the fight because Grau kicked the brother with an illegal move. However, Grau goads Patton’s brother, who came out of the coma and is training again, into fighting an unsanctioned rematch of their own.

BEAST is a compelling action movie, with some decent performances by the stars, including Russell Crowe. The movie has a strong pro-family perspective. However, BEAST has far too many gratuitous “f” words, brutal fight scenes and a strong revenge motif. So, MOVIEGUIDE® finds the movie excessive and unacceptable.