Foxcatcher is a strange, quiet horror movie dressed as a sports drama. Bennett Miller directs a story about ambition, power, and control, and he trusts his actors to sit still long enough for the terror to set in. The film follows the rise and fall of John du Pont, played with a chilling exactness by Steve Carell, who recruits Olympic wrestling champion Mark Schultz, played by Channing Tatum, to join his private Team Foxcatcher. The film is based on real events, and it plays like a slow-moving nightmare.
Trailer, via Sony Pictures Classics.
The Two Brothers
Mark Schultz is the film’s entry point. He won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics alongside his older brother Dave, played by Mark Ruffalo. Mark feels overshadowed by Dave, and that envy drives the whole story. The film opens with Mark speaking at an elementary school in place of his brother, a small gesture that sets the terms for everything that follows. When John du Pont contacts Mark, he offers him a chance to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at his Pennsylvania estate. Mark accepts, but his brother refuses to join him, unwilling to uproot his wife and two children. That refusal sends Mark down a road he cannot escape.
John du Pont
Carell plays du Pont as a man who believes he is saving wrestling. He is rich beyond measure, an heir to the du Pont family fortune, and he treats Mark like a project. He builds a training facility, pays the bills, and buys Mark’s loyalty with cocaine. The film shows the two men developing a friendship, but the lines keep blurring. John introduces Mark to drugs, praises him publicly, and then turns on him in private. His mother, Jean du Pont, played by Vanessa Redgrave, watches these changes with a mixture of disdain and dread. She tells her son that wrestling is a “low sport” and that she does not like seeing him “being low.”
Slap and Betrayal
The turning point comes when Mark and his teammates skip training to watch mixed martial arts on TV. John walks in, sees them, and flies into a rage. He slaps Mark and berates him, demanding that Mark reconcile with his brother. John promises to enlist Dave by any means necessary. This moment is the film’s hinge. After it, nothing goes back to normal. Mark is trapped, and the film knows it.
The Supporting Cast
Ruffalo anchors the film as Dave, a man who understands exactly what is happening to his brother. He refuses to join Foxcatcher, and that refusal becomes a kind of sacrifice. Sienna Miller plays Nancy Schultz, Dave’s wife, and she grounds the film in grief and fear. The rest of the cast, including Anthony Michael Hall as Jack and Guy Boyd as Henry Beck, fills out the world around Mark and Dave without ever stealing focus.
Comparing the Three Leads
| Role | Actor | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Schultz | Channing Tatum | Physical precision, controlled despair |
| Dave Schultz | Mark Ruffalo | Calm resolve, steady anchor |
| John du Pont | Steve Carell | Controlled menace, chilling exactness |
Each actor finds their own register. Tatum’s Mark is a man who wants to be loved, and he sells that need without ever becoming a caricature. Ruffalo’s Dave is the opposite: he knows the danger and refuses to step into it. Carell’s du Pont is the hardest to read. He is generous, then cruel, then generous again, and Carell never lets the audience settle on a single reading.
What the Film Does Well
- Carell’s performance as du Pont is the engine of the film. He plays a man who believes he is doing good while slowly destroying everyone around him.
- Tatum’s physicality grounds the story. Mark is a wrestler, and the film keeps that identity front and center.
- Ruffalo’s Dave provides the moral center. He refuses to join Foxcatcher, and that refusal gives the film its stakes.
What the Film Struggles With
The film is slow, and its early stretches can feel repetitive. It takes its time getting to the worst of the story, and some viewers may lose patience before the payoff arrives. The ending is open-ended, more of a shrug than a resolution. The film does not explain why du Pont acts the way he does, and it leaves the audience with more questions than answers.
Foxcatcher is a difficult film to recommend unreservedly, but it is a powerful one. It is a tragedy about a man who cannot stop himself, and about the people who had to live with his mistakes. It is not a comfortable watch, but it is a necessary one.
Foxcatcher earns an 8.1/10.
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