Simply blown away by Foxcatcher! Outstanding performances! This Foxcatcher review looks at how they make the film’s slow-burning unease so powerful.

Bennett Miller’s wrestling drama is at its most powerful when almost nothing is said. A wealthy patron offers an athlete the means to succeed, yet the help comes with a need to control. The performances make that bargain disturbing long before the story reaches its tragic destination.

Foxcatcher Review: Plot and Premise

Bennett Miller’s wonder, Foxcatcher, is primarily a psychological study of exceptional characters portrayed superbly by Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. Based on a true story of brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz, the tale is an account of how their lives changed when they encountered wealthy heir John du Pont, who promised to support Mark in competing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The sporting ambition is clear, but the film’s interest lies in what winning cannot repair. Mark already has extraordinary ability. What he lacks is a secure sense of his own worth outside his older brother’s shadow. Money, a training facility and the promise of recognition make du Pont’s invitation difficult to resist. That need for approval is the opening through which a patron starts becoming an authority.

Steve Carell’s Makeover and the Performances

You have to give a standing ovation to Steve Carell’s makeup artists. The job they did with his prosthetic nose and a complete makeover is highly commendable. The character build-up is so brilliant that it is quite next to impossible to figure out if it is Steve who is behind the mask! The posture, the walk, the talk, the demeanour, everything is just marvelously put on by Steve and he perfects it at every frame.

Channing Tatum is equally ravishing sporting a constant tough-boy lower lip countenance that he carries throughout. Mark Ruffalo is simply outstanding in Foxcatcher. The acting pro plays Mark Schultz’s elder brother to perfection. There is so much going on in his face that you could almost read it.

Miller’s direction is one of the best I have ever seen. He keeps us engaged with long shots of a particular expression something that every drama thrives on. The editing of the movie could, however, have been tighter since there were many dispensable shots strewn all across. Rob Simonsen’s music, with Mychael Danna’s Valley Forge theme, is used sparingly and quite nicely. Miller understands when a scene needs sound and when silence will do more.

Foxcatcher Review: Direction, Silence and Uneasy Space

Carell’s transformation works because the makeup never does all the acting for him. His pauses make conversation awkward; his posture suggests someone trying to occupy a position that does not fit. There is a neediness beneath the grand manner. He wants the men around him to recognise greatness, yet he keeps confusing the power to provide something with the ability to earn affection.

Tatum gives Mark a different kind of discomfort. His physical presence belongs naturally in a wrestling room, but his face can seem closed even when someone offers him an opportunity. The lower lip, the guarded expression and the sudden anger make confidence look like something he is desperately holding together. Ruffalo’s Dave, by contrast, can put another person at ease. He listens and adjusts. That difference is essential: the brothers have a shared history without becoming interchangeable men.

Those long-held expressions are where Miller’s direction really gets to me. A scene is allowed to sit with an uncomfortable reaction rather than rushing to explain it. The spacious estate does not feel liberating. Its rooms and routines keep reminding us whose world this is. Still, my reservation about the editing remains. Some stretches communicate an isolation that we have already understood, and the film occasionally lingers beyond the point at which the feeling becomes sharper.

Spoilers Wrestling Ahead

In the opening frames, the movie gradually eases into the concept behind the movie moniker ‘Foxcatcher’, subtly remarking its historical significance. We witness a herd of men on horses on hunting grounds with hounds chasing foxes speaking of their affluence. Then begins the flick with Mark’s routine and Dave’s flair.

Soon we are introduced to the great John du Pont a character so brilliantly woven, that it makes it hard to see through him. John’s constant endeavor to prove himself to his mother is wonderfully depicted. Amongst some great scenes from the movie are John’s frequent outbursts (Watch out for that gun bit!), Channing’s hitting himself in wrath, Dave’s exceptional efforts to help his brother, wrestling moves that Mark and Dave perfected and of course the unexpected climax.

Foxcatcher Review: Power and Father Figures

Spoilers continue below. Du Pont’s idea of leadership is revealing. He wants the vocabulary of care, the image of a mentor and the authority of a father. The film asks us to compare that performance with Dave’s quieter concern for Mark. One man can fund the room; another understands the person training inside it. Those are different kinds of power, and the difference becomes more painful as the story develops.

Foxcatcher review still: John du Pont coaches Mark Schultz.

“A coach is a father.”
John du Pont

John du Pont · Foxcatcher (2014). Film still: Sony Pictures Classics.

The line sounds reassuring in isolation. Within this film, it becomes a warning about the claims someone makes over another person’s life. A coach can give direction without demanding possession. Du Pont’s dependence on being admired makes that boundary fragile. His relationship with his mother adds another layer to the contradiction: a man who wants to stand above others is still desperate to be approved of himself.

The wrestling matters because it gives all this psychology a physical language. Bodies are held, pushed, restrained and corrected. Between the brothers, that contact can show trust and familiarity. Under du Pont’s gaze it can become an exhibition of ownership. The training scenes therefore carry a tension beyond whether anyone will win a bout. We are watching who is allowed to guide whom, and what happens when money buys the appearance of expertise.

Melodrama, Brotherhood and the Verdict

The drama of Foxcatcher reeks of human passion, psychology, fraternal concern, mental disputes and ill effects of strain in relationships. A perfect drama that Miller perfects owing to exceptional acting prowess shown by Steve, Mark and Channing.

A highly recommended movie if you wish to witness some classic mind-boggling acting.

Why Foxcatcher Stays With Me

The final violence is devastating because it breaks into a world that has spent so much time suppressing ordinary feeling. It does not turn the earlier performances into a puzzle with one neat answer. Instead, it leaves the promises of support and belonging looking terribly hollow. This is a dramatisation of real events, not a substitute for a complete historical account, and the film’s character portraits should be read as dramatic interpretations.

For the credited cast, filmmakers and premise, the official Sony Pictures Classics site is the useful reference. The acting remains the main reason this Foxcatcher review recommends the film. If you want another intense story about ambition and a destructive mentor, read our Whiplash review. Both films understand how easily the language of improvement can conceal a demand for control.