Foxcatcher

is one of the most powerful and relentless movies I have seen this year.  I admire it, but I have to say that I cannot recommend it except for the intensity of the experience it provides. 

Foxcatcher is a two-hour-and-fourteen-minute beating.  The three leads--Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, and Steve Carrell--deliver superb performances in the service of a brutal, grinding story.  Tatum's portrayal of Mark Schultz is pitch perfect, at least as far as the film's plot goes.  (I know almost nothing about the real person, Mark Schultz.)  A driven but not very intelligent man who knows he lives in his brother's shadow, Channing's Mark Schultz is easy prey for Steve Carrell's John du Pont.  Ruffalo's David Schultz is a good man grappling with conflicting loyalties and responsibilities.  You won't always like Mark and David, but you will care about them.  Carrell's du Pont, on the other hand, is creepy from start to finish, so creepy that in even his most sympathetic moments you can't help but worry about what type of man he is.

I don't want to spoil the movie for you--though the fact that it's based on a true story means you can do so easily enough if you choose to--but I will say that even when the horrible ending came, and even knowing it was coming, I found it shocking. 

As I said earlier, I admire this movie, and I am glad to have seen it, but I recommend it only if you want to see great performances and a powerful, grinding story--and are willing to take an emotional beating to do so.