The Fighter film review
Inspired by a real-life underdog tale, boxing drama The Fighter can probably best be described as Rocky meets Jerry Springer – with exceptional performances. It’s an odd combination but it makes for arguably the most all-round entertaining of this year’s big Oscar nominees. For the record, The Fighter was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won two, for Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale and Best Supporting Actress Melissa Leo.
The Fighter centres on boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) whose loyalties to his large working class family mean that he’s missed out on several career opportunities, and has frequently found himself in mismatched fights, boxing for a paycheque to please his manager mother Alice (Leo) and older brother, and trainer, Dicky (Bale) – a former boxing contender and current crack addict. After one too many disappointments, and with the encouragement of new girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams), Micky attempts to cut loose from his family and take one final shot at a title fight.
The Fighter could have been just another in a long line of solid but unremarkable boxing movies. However, the film sidesteps audience expectations by demonstrating plenty of energy – thanks largely to Bale’s manic performance, and the use of grainy, “real” VHS footage during the fight scenes. The project also manages to be very moving without the need for tearful breakdowns or characters plunged into deep despair. The Fighter is no Million Dollar Baby, agonising to watch.
The Fighter is also made enjoyable by its surprising amount of humour. It’s bittersweet but you can’t help but laugh at unreliable (but likeable) Dicky, with his eternal positivity, twisted druggie logic and silly schemes. Then there are the terrifying “ladies” in Micky and Dicky’s life – seven rough-looking, layabout sisters always ready for a catfight, and a mother who bounces between sad eyed guilt-tripping and crockery-tossing ferociousness that wouldn’t be out of place in a boxing ring.
There has been a great deal of praise for Bale and Leo, and both actors completely deserve it for their portrayal of colourful supporting characters that sill retain their realism. At the same time, it’s unfair not to mention the work of Adams, and especially Wahlberg. When Wahlberg is good, he’s very, very good. And in The Fighter he’s in top form, convincing physically as a boxer and convincing emotionally as a decent guy who has quietly suppressed his wants while trying to please everyone around him. Adams meanwhile is great fun as the antithesis of her Enchanted princess – a former party girl turned ballsy barmaid, who is conscious of her mistakes in life and refuses to let Micky leave his own potential untapped.
Driven by well-rounded characters and excellent performances, it also doesn’t hurt that The Fighter features several engaging boxing matches that effectively communicate the unpredictability of the sport. I may risk overhyping it but I can’t recommend The Fighter enough. Audiences may be put off by the fact that it’s another boxing movie, but that kind of attitude will simply cause cinemagoers to miss out on one of the best, schmaltz-free sports dramas of recent years. This is feel-good cinema at its finest, and most authentic-feeling.
The Fighter centres on boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) whose loyalties to his large working class family mean that he’s missed out on several career opportunities, and has frequently found himself in mismatched fights, boxing for a paycheque to please his manager mother Alice (Leo) and older brother, and trainer, Dicky (Bale) – a former boxing contender and current crack addict. After one too many disappointments, and with the encouragement of new girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams), Micky attempts to cut loose from his family and take one final shot at a title fight.
The Fighter could have been just another in a long line of solid but unremarkable boxing movies. However, the film sidesteps audience expectations by demonstrating plenty of energy – thanks largely to Bale’s manic performance, and the use of grainy, “real” VHS footage during the fight scenes. The project also manages to be very moving without the need for tearful breakdowns or characters plunged into deep despair. The Fighter is no Million Dollar Baby, agonising to watch.
The Fighter is also made enjoyable by its surprising amount of humour. It’s bittersweet but you can’t help but laugh at unreliable (but likeable) Dicky, with his eternal positivity, twisted druggie logic and silly schemes. Then there are the terrifying “ladies” in Micky and Dicky’s life – seven rough-looking, layabout sisters always ready for a catfight, and a mother who bounces between sad eyed guilt-tripping and crockery-tossing ferociousness that wouldn’t be out of place in a boxing ring.
There has been a great deal of praise for Bale and Leo, and both actors completely deserve it for their portrayal of colourful supporting characters that sill retain their realism. At the same time, it’s unfair not to mention the work of Adams, and especially Wahlberg. When Wahlberg is good, he’s very, very good. And in The Fighter he’s in top form, convincing physically as a boxer and convincing emotionally as a decent guy who has quietly suppressed his wants while trying to please everyone around him. Adams meanwhile is great fun as the antithesis of her Enchanted princess – a former party girl turned ballsy barmaid, who is conscious of her mistakes in life and refuses to let Micky leave his own potential untapped.
Driven by well-rounded characters and excellent performances, it also doesn’t hurt that The Fighter features several engaging boxing matches that effectively communicate the unpredictability of the sport. I may risk overhyping it but I can’t recommend The Fighter enough. Audiences may be put off by the fact that it’s another boxing movie, but that kind of attitude will simply cause cinemagoers to miss out on one of the best, schmaltz-free sports dramas of recent years. This is feel-good cinema at its finest, and most authentic-feeling.
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