Streaming has now found a new #1 hit as Russell Crowe’s recent martial arts action movie fights its way to take the top spot. Best-known for his Academy Award-winning role as Maximus in Gladiator back in 2000, Crowe steps into the modern colosseum, aka The Octagon, for a new Rocky-esque story set within the world of MMA.
While the sexagenarian Man of Steel star doesn’t quite go as far as Sylvester Stallone’s sports movie icon and step into the ring like the action superstar did in Rocky Balboa, he does play a key role in proceedings, starring on-screen as an MMA coach and writing the film. And clearly, his role both on and off-screen has been the perfect one-two punch as the martial arts action flick is now dominating streaming.
Directed by Tyler Atkins, and written by Russell Crowe and David Frigerio, Beast made its debut in theaters back in April before hitting streaming. The action outing delivers a classic underdog tale as it follows a once-feared MMA champion who, after years away from the ring, is pulled back in for the fight of his life when his younger brother is put in danger. Reuniting with the trainer who once made him a legend, he commits to a final showdown against the reigning champion.
Starring Daniel MacPherson (Foundation), Luke Hemsworth (The Terminal List: Dark Wolf), Mojean Aria (The Correspondent), Kelly Gale (Plane), George Burgess (Land of Bad), Saphira Moran (It Will Find You), and the most exciting action star of the hour Bren Foster (Life After Fighting), alongside Crowe, Beast is now ranked #1 on the streaming platform 
Rakuten TV, with some of the top 10 made up of other recent movies 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Wasteman, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, Send Help, The Housemaid, and Kraken. As well as streaming on Rakuten TV, Beast is also available on both Prime Video and Apple TV in the United States and elsewhere.
Despite MMA finding huge popularity decades ago, there are surprisingly few well-known or well-received MMA movies outside of Warrior starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s recent biopic The Smashing Machine. Well, Beast certainly has the skills required to join the short list of MMA movie classics, with the action flick achieving a solid score of 79% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to Warrior’s 84% and The Smashing Machine’s 71%.
Beast hit critics, and is now hitting audiences, in the right places, with RogertEbert.com awarding the movie a near-perfect 3 out of 4 stars thanks to its unashamed throwback vibe, saying, “This is the kind of movie that will play forever on basic cable, and you’ll sit down and wonder why there isn’t more like it.” Further reactions call it a “crowd-pleaser,” “undeniably brutal,” and an “Absolutely brilliant action drama.”
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