When choosing a project to make the jump to directing via, most actors probably wouldn't pick one that A) features them in most scenes and B) requires a lot of intensive, physical fight training. Halle Berry was clearly in need of a challenge though, and the first trailer for the resulting movie, Bruised, is online.
Berry here plays Jackie Justice, a mixed martial arts fighter who leaves the sport in disgrace. Down on her luck and simmering with rage and regret years after her fight, she’s coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi (Adan Canto) and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter (Shamier Anderson) who promises Jackie a life back in the octagon.
But the road to redemption becomes unexpectedly personal when Manny (Danny Boyd Jr.) — the son she gave up as an infant — shows up at her doorstep.
Adriane Lenox, Sheila Atim, Valentina Shevchenko and Stephen McKinley Henderson also star in this one, which Netflix will put into select US theatres on 24 November, the same day it hits the streaming service globally.