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Queen of the Ring Review
Image Credit: Ft. Lauderdale IFF
Loading...Directed by: Ash Avildsen
Written by: Ash Avildsen
Starring:
Emily Bett Rickards – Mildred Burke
Josh Lucas – Billy Wolfe
Tyler Posey – G. Bill
Walton Goggins – Jack Pfefer
Francesca Eastwood – Mae Young
Marie Avgeropoulos – Elvira Snodgrass
Kailey Farmer – June Byers
Cara Buono – Bertha
Gavin Casalegno – Joe Jr.
Deborah Ann Woll – Gladys Gillem
Kelli Berglund – Nell Stewart
Damaris Lewis – Babs Wingo
Jim Cornette – NWA Commissioner
Toni Rossall – Clara Mortensen
Trinity Fatu – Ethel Johnson
Britt Baker – Debbie Nichols
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence including domestic violence, strong language, suggestive material and smoking.
It was perhaps inevitable that the age of content and the momentum behind pro wrestling would result in a rise in wrestling films and series. From series like Heels, Young Rock, and G.L.O.W. to movies like 2023’s The Iron Claw, sports entertainment has become a new field to mine for stories and there’s plenty of history in pro wrestling to draw from when looking for a new tale to tell.
The latest entry into that genre, Queen Of the Ring, looks to the industry’s more distant past to tell a story that still feels incredibly relevant today. Ash Avildsen’s film gives Mildred Burke the focus that she’s long deserved as a trailblazer and ceiling shatterer in and out of the squared circle. Premiering in theaters on Friday, the film may play a little fast and loose with its history to follow the biopic format, but the result is an entertaining and inspiring tribute to a woman who fought for the important spot she occupies in wrestling’s history books.
Queen of the Ring stars Emily Betts Rickards as Burke, who as we open is in the middle of the fight of her life in a title defense against heated rival June Byers in August of 1954. She’s in peril and favoring a leg, and things don’t look good. Her son Joe Jr. (Gavin Casalegno) moves in to try to fix her leg but she’s in severe pain, pain that’s about to snap sharply into focus for her.
After that in medias res opening, we jump back to the days before Mildred battled in the ring and was a single mother working in a Kansas diner with her mother (Cara Bueno) and staring in fascination at wrestling magazines.
After attending a show where she realizes wrestling is a work, she meets pro wrestler Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas) when he and his son G. Bill (Tyler Posey) walk into the diner. She asks to be trained and despite Billy’s dismissal of her, she doesn’t take know for an answer. Eventually, Billy is convinced and sets her to wrestling rubes on the carnie circuit. Her success there sends Mildred on her way toward becoming a top star with Billy as her manager and, eventually, her husband.
As Mildred’s star rises, other women join Billy’s stable of female wrestlers including Elvira Snodgrass (Marie Avgeropoulos), Gladys Gillem (Deborah Ann Woll), and Mae Young (Francesca Eastwood). It also brings strife between the couple as Billy’s infidelity with a number of his stars drives a wedge between them. As their relationship cools into a mere business arrangement and Mille is courted by G. Bill, more conflicts arise – especially when Billy wants to put the NWA World Women’s Title on June Byers (Kailey Farmer, aka AEW’s Kamille), who Millie and many of the other women have a bad relationship with.
Queen of the Ring is adapted by Avildsen based on the book of the same name by Jeff Leen. In telling the story, Avildsen deviates from the facts a bit in order to find a more cinematic, streamlined story. Some wrestling historians may bristle at that; a notable example occurs late in the second act to establish Byers as more of a villain and give Burke a more Rocky-like path. (Notably, Avildsen’s father is John Avildsen, who directed the first entry in said classic boxing franchise.)
But those deviations also make for a more engaging story. Avildsen’s script is not perfect by any means; for example, it gets a bit awkward when it tries to introduce wrestling terms to the audience. But even with its flaws, it finds something greater in the raw power of Millie and her comrades as characters. Rickards finds plenty to dig into in the balance in Millie’s moxie, resilience and vulnerability, and through it she soars.
Rickards has a lot of great performances to bounce off of as well. She finds strong chemistry with Lucas, making their relationship spark as both lovers and rivals. Farmer makes an effective feature debut as Byers, completely understanding her assignment as one of the film’s two primary heels. And Eastwood gets to make a sassy, sexy and take-no-shit meal out of the role of Mae Young, stealing every scene she enters with a wink, a smirk and a cigar. (A number of other performers from the wrestling world acquit themselves well in smaller roles including Toni Storm as Clara Mortenson and Trinity Fatu as Ethel Johnson, though it will be hard for any wrestling fan to see Jim Cornette as the NWA Commissioner and not think he’s just playing himself.)
While Avildsen clearly didn’t have the same budget that Sean Durkin did for The Iron Claw, he makes the absolute most of what he has. The film feels quite accurate in its period aspects and the wrestling action is shot quite well, particularly the climactic match between Burke and Byers. Cinematographer Andrew Strahorn gives the film a workmanlike look that isn’t flashy but never distracts from the story either. Avildsen establishes the world well and while the film occasionally feels a bit episodic in nature (the original cut was an hour longer), it carries through the somewhat bumpy narrative on the strength of Burke’s story, one that finally gets to step out of the shadows to a greater audience.
Queen of the Ring premieres in theaters on March 7th.
