Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Christy Martin broke boundaries and noses as she rose in the boxing world, but her public persona belied personal demons, abuse and a threat on her life.
Untold: Deal with the Devil is a solid entry in Netflix's Untold sports documentary series, covering the remarkable and harrowing story of female boxing pioneer Christy Martin. The film benefits from a genuinely compelling subject — Martin's rise in a male-dominated sport, her abusive relationship, and the near-fatal attack she survived — but the documentary format is fairly conventional, relying on talking-head interviews and archival footage without particularly inventive cinematography. The storytelling is engaging but follows a familiar rise-fall-survival arc. Acting is not applicable in the traditional sense but interview subjects are candid and compelling. Novelty is moderate — Martin's story is distinctive but the documentary craft itself is by-the-numbers for the genre. The ending carries emotional weight given the real-life stakes but doesn't offer much beyond the expected resolution of survival and redemption. Overall a competent, worthwhile watch that sits comfortably in the average-to-above-average range for sports documentaries.