The makers of the new mixed-martial-arts (MMA) drama “Beast” left no sports movie cliché behind when they made their formulaic, but satisfying crowd-pleaser, all about a retired fighter’s comeback match with the middleweight champion. Co-writers Russell Crowe and David Frigerio, working with director Tyler Atkins on his sophomore feature, play the hits with enough attention to detail that their mimetic passion pays off throughout. They didn’t really need to include everything that they did, mind you, but the fact that they crammed almost every scene with polished but familiar tropes shows you how much they love ex-con underdog Patton (Daniel MacPherson), not necessarily as a character, but as a genre archetype. 

Patton is in his prime when we first meet him. He approaches the ring to meet certain glory, but only after receiving a pep talk from his gruff but dedicated trainer, Sammy (Crowe). Ten years pass. Now Patton’s working on a fish trawler and making very little money. It’s one indignity in a series now that his fighting days are long behind him. 

Patton’s soon fired, of course, but not until he befriends gentle giant Neal (George Burgess) and learns from his wife, Lucy (Kelly Gale), that their sick daughter, Maddie (Sol Nc Carrico), needs to see a medical specialist. Also, Patton’s estranged brother Malon (Mojean Aria) gets knocked out by Patton’s unsportsmanlike ex-rival Xavier Grau (Bren Foster) and can’t repay his outstanding debts to local thug Barry (Matt Nable). And Xavier’s wolfish manager, Gabriel (Luke Hemsworth), wants to pay Patton top dollar to get back into the ring with Xavier. 

So, according to the logic of this type of movie, Patton has to start training. He needs six months to do it, but gets seven weeks instead. For backup, Patton looks to Sammy’s daughter Rose (Amy Shark), who’s all grown up since Patton last saw her, but also not fighting anymore following a debilitating knee injury. Neal helps, too, but not Sammy, who scowls and sweats at Patton when he hobbles out to confront him, with one walking cane in each hand. Before Patton’s big fight with Xavier, there’s 4:30 am training and an unsanctioned/live-streamed fight, as well as a few near-miss confrontations between Patton and pretty much every man – and a few women – in his path to redemption. 

MacPherson has a lot of simmering and sighing to do in order to make Patton seem believable. To be fair, credit’s not entirely due to him, since Crowe and Frigerio give their lead plenty of tests for his character’s perpetually nettled pride. Still, MacPherson gets the job done and with an un-showy, all-in commitment that makes you wish he could carry more of the movie. He can’t, but that’s fine given how often the overstuffed plot shifts focus to accommodate more lovable stock characters, who usually only get a couple of moments to bond or challenge Patton and then disappear for a while.

Two hours don’t exactly fly by, but they do move with a pleasing sort of intention, made that much more satisfying by the stomach-churning martial beat and groaning strings on the soundtrack, as well as the percussive sound design that pays off big time during Xavier and Patton’s climactic fight. The fight scenes’ direction and choreography are appreciably well-mounted, too.

Beast goes a lot farther than you might expect because its filmmakers celebrate their stock ingredients as if they were your favourite parts of an already popular radio hit. This is a sports melodrama with enough well-honed showmanship and passion to make even its cheesiest qualities seem like an unpretentious celebration of Patton’s everyman. 

Besides, what’s most impressive about “Beast” is that its creators seem to know exactly what they need to translate their dream programmer to the screen. No time is wasted developing Patton’s loved ones into psychologically complex characters, though Malon comes close to overstaying his welcome. Patton’s loved ones are otherwise all charming and believable enough. Better yet, they all enhance Patton’s story without taking too much attention away from MacPherson.