I've had a long running tussle with The Fighter, and even now I'm still at war with it. If I were to make predictions for the Oscars based on my views alone, I would not place this one in the nominations. On the other hand, I do not for a second believe this to be a bad film. As a matter of fact, it's a pretty great one. For those who weren't aware, The Fighter is the story of "Irish" Micky Ward, a boxer who has been trained by his brother Dickie for years, and his manager has always been his overbearing and counterproductive mother. Things haven't been going well for him lately, and his family has been holding him back his whole life.A few things influence Micky in changing his life, including the entrance of hot bar girl Charlene, who really believes in him and just doesn't like his family. Then there's Dickie's descent into drug use, and the negative ramifications it has for the entire family. Micky's reputation is damaged, simply based on the fact that he's his brother. There's a lot of emotions going on, and it's actually inspirational. It's a hardcore underdog film at heart, and that is always something to root for. It felt a lot like Million Dollar Baby in respects to the family aspect of it, but it had a forward momentum it could keep to.
This film doesn't really bring us anything truly new that we haven't seen before. The roads it treads have already been set upon, but the execution of it all is completely original. Towards the end of the film, we go from a rather quiet setting straight to a furious Christian Bale, and it's one of the most aggressive cuts I've ever seen. Talking of which, the acting in this film is absolutely spectacular, with Christian Bale being at the top of his game. During the ending credits, we get a clip of the real Micky and Dickie, and while Mark Wahlberg just did his usual acting style, it's clear that Bale spent a lot of time nailing down Dickie's mannerisms and such. It's just uncanny, and it's the most Oscar worthy performance from a supporting actor this year.
The other members of the cast range from fine to phenomenal. Like I said, Mark Wahlberg isn't anything new, but I could still stand him being onscreen. Melissa Leo does a great job as the mother who wants to control everything in Micky's life, but ultimately cares more about her other children. Amy Adams is stunning, because she's still a white trash sort of girl, and she's got a bit of a tummy on her, but she's a sexy bitch with a heart of gold. Sure it's been done before, but what in this film hasn't? The real life Mickey O'Keefe plays himself in this film, which adds a whole lot of credibility to the enterprise, and he obviously does a great job of it. He lived it. He knows better than anyone how it felt. This film could've been rather pedestrian, but thanks to the powerful supporting cast, The Fighter turns out to be an inspirational film with some proper grit tacked onto it. It's not a truly great film, but it's a good one.
B+
This film doesn't really bring us anything truly new that we haven't seen before. The roads it treads have already been set upon, but the execution of it all is completely original. Towards the end of the film, we go from a rather quiet setting straight to a furious Christian Bale, and it's one of the most aggressive cuts I've ever seen. Talking of which, the acting in this film is absolutely spectacular, with Christian Bale being at the top of his game. During the ending credits, we get a clip of the real Micky and Dickie, and while Mark Wahlberg just did his usual acting style, it's clear that Bale spent a lot of time nailing down Dickie's mannerisms and such. It's just uncanny, and it's the most Oscar worthy performance from a supporting actor this year.
The other members of the cast range from fine to phenomenal. Like I said, Mark Wahlberg isn't anything new, but I could still stand him being onscreen. Melissa Leo does a great job as the mother who wants to control everything in Micky's life, but ultimately cares more about her other children. Amy Adams is stunning, because she's still a white trash sort of girl, and she's got a bit of a tummy on her, but she's a sexy bitch with a heart of gold. Sure it's been done before, but what in this film hasn't? The real life Mickey O'Keefe plays himself in this film, which adds a whole lot of credibility to the enterprise, and he obviously does a great job of it. He lived it. He knows better than anyone how it felt. This film could've been rather pedestrian, but thanks to the powerful supporting cast, The Fighter turns out to be an inspirational film with some proper grit tacked onto it. It's not a truly great film, but it's a good one.
B+
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