Review #579 - The Fighter (2010)
THE SCOOP
Director: David O. Russell
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo
Plot: A look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s.
Genre: Biography / Drama / Sport
Awards: Won 2 Oscars - Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress. Nom. for 5 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing.
Runtime: 115min
Rating: M18 for language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality.
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
What happens when a volatile director meets a potentially volatile actor on set? You get one of the most intense performances of the year. Notoriously hard-to-work-with director David O. Russell (Three Kings, 1999) guides Christian Bale (who infamously threw vulgar tirades on the set of Terminator Salvation, 2009) to a great turn as Dicky Eklund, the drug addict brother of Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), whom this biopic is based on.
The
Fighter, as it is
titled, chronicles Micky’s rise to prominence in the sport of boxing, but it is
not without its fair share of ups and downs as you would see in this quite
masterful picture of drama and sport. In the realm of boxing
pictures, The Fighter straddles in the territory between Rocky (1976) and Raging Bull (1980), with the latter being the
holy grail of the subgenre. It is raw,
gritty, vulgar, and also a very revealing examination of the nature of human
relations when people are under pressure to conform to the beliefs and
expectations of others.
The
performances in this film are a knockout, and are perhaps the most compelling
reason to head down to the theatres to catch the film. In addition to Wahlberg and Bale, the ensemble
cast also features Amy Adams (Doubt, 2008), who is cast against type as
a foul-mouth bargirl, and Melissa Leo (Frozen River, 2008), who plays
one of the fiercest movie moms in recent memory.
Russell’s
rough, unpolished visual style gives the film a documentary feel, and this is
aided by scenes which show a cameraman and some crew following Dicky, the
footage of which would end up in a special social issue segment about “Crack”
on HBO shown on television in the film. In the final quarter, when Micky gets a title
shot, one would expect a thrilling boxing match, of which Russell delivers with
aplomb.
It does
not have the gut-wrenching impact of Raging Bull, nor is it as inspiring as Rocky, but Russell’s unique way of presenting the
fight (he uses intentionally hard lighting, loud, overbearing commentators, and
low-bass strings) makes it especially immersive.
Perhaps the biggest flaw of The Fighter (but it is not a major one) is that
the character of Micky Ward is not screen-stealing enough and seems to play a
secondary role to Dicky, who is a supporting character, albeit a very highly
stimulating one. Thus, even though the
drama is generally involving and exciting, it would seem at times that this
film is not so much about Mickey but the strong-minded characters around him
that shaped his attitudes toward his outlook in life.
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