This image released by Black Bear shows Sydney Sweeney in a scene from "Christy." (Eddy Chen/Black Bear via AP)

In “Christy,” Sydney Sweeney stars as Christy Martin, the groundbreaking boxer who held the World Boxing Council female super welterweight title for an astonishing 20 years.

Martin became a sports legend. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, she was the first female boxer on the cover of Sports Illustrated and a superb fighter who created opportunities for everyone who followed her lead.

If you’re familiar with Sweeney’s work in film so far, she’d seem to be the last person who could pull off playing Martin. The reason this sleeper works so well is that, in addition to emerging a great sports drama about boxing, Sweeney doesn’t just hold her own but carries the movie.

The setting is 1989 West Virginia. It begins with a slow-motion boxing match set to Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels,” the first of many needle drops that enhance the period setting without becoming too distracting and on-the-nose.

Martin’s early matches reveal that she can’t be knocked down in the ring and has a thunderous right hook that sends her opponents tumbling. After repeatedly winning matches, she is taken in by a trainer and manager named Jim (played by Ben Foster), who creates opportunities but seems aloof, later becomes her husband and is clearly a liar.

A revealing moment is when Martin gets to meet Don King, whom Jim has claimed to be friends with. King calls him out immediately, says he never forgets a face and has never met Jim in his life. Nevertheless, Martin manages to show King how talented and determined she is, and he begins to promote her as “the coal miner’s daughter” and schedule her matches before Mike Tyson’s.

As Martin’s career ascends, Jim continues to manipulate her, even gaslighting her into thinking he’s just being a supportive husband. If you’re unfamiliar with Martin, as I was before seeing “Christy,” you’ll find this story simply amazing.

Nothing Sweeney has done before compares to this — an opportunity to play a real person who was unbeatable in the ring but vulnerable and traumatized in her personal life. Sweeney holds her own during the gnarly fight scenes and gives in to the bad 1980s hairdos and fashions that the role requires.

Martin isn’t always likable or gracious in how she carries herself in or out of the ring, a great quality that Sweeney fearlessly tackles as hard as the impressive boxing match set pieces.

Most importantly, and this is crucial, I often forgot I was watching Sydney Sweeney and was always engaged in the story of Christy Martin.

Australian director David Michôd often casts actors against type and showcases them in roles that counter fan expectations (he put Robert Pattinson in an early anti-“Twilight” character role in his 2014 crime drama, “The Rover”). Once again, Michôd took a chance and allowed a high-profile celebrity to showcase their acting capabilities.

Foster is excellent and so is Chad L. Coleman’s scene stealing turn as King — Coleman captures King’s showmanship but avoids playing him as a caricature.

Because Michôd tells this in a straightforward manner, with none of the tonal inconsistencies and shifts that undermined “The Smashing Machine,” this is actually a better and even more harrowing ringside drama than Dwayne Johnson’s recent vehicle.

A crucial subplot is how Jim and Christy’s mother force Martin to hide that she’s a lesbian, which is handled directly but not to the point of making this feel like a melodrama.

Michôd has a big story to tell but leaping seven years after the emotional peak of the second act feels like we’re missing a lot. However, this is already a two-and-a-half-hour movie.

There have been flashier boxing movies, but this one excels because it sticks to the character’s story without becoming a feature length boxing montage.

Sweeney is having a big pop culture moment in 2025 but hasn’t really branched out on her own as an actress., “Anyone But You” (2023), her biggest success so far, was more of a launching pad for her co-star Glen Powell. That should change after audiences see “Christy.” Sweeney’s ferocious performance is what puts this movie over.

(3 out of 4 stars)

Barry Wurst II is the founder of the Hawaii Film Critics Society and teaches film classes at University of Hawai’i Maui College.