I kept waiting for Bale to drop his voice and growl "I am Batman!"
The Fighter
starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Mickey O’Keefe, Jack McGee
directed by David. O. Russell
Boxing movies; there’s something inspiring about them, isn’t there? That, or maybe America just loves to get off on two people beating the life out of one another. Either way, it seems not a year goes by without some sort of boxing film hitting theaters: 2009’s Phantom Punch, 2008’s documentary Thriller in Manila, 2007’s Resurrecting the Champ, 2006’s Rocky Balboa, 2005’s Cinderella Man, 2004’s Million Dollar Baby,…the list goes on and on. 2010’s major entry into the genre will be The Fighter, now nominated for six Golden Globes.
Welcome to the life story of Micky Ward (Wahlberg). For years, he has lived in the shadow of his older brother and fellow boxer, Dicky Eklund (Bale). Dicky likes to tell the story about the time he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard, but these days he spends most of his time getting high at the local crack house of Lowell, Massachusetts. Dicky and his mother Alice (Leo) are now managing Micky’s career, but are doing so poorly. He is constantly stood up at the gym by Dicky, and his mother puts him in fights that he simply cannot win. It takes the urging of Micky’s new found love in Charlene Fleming (Adams), along with an arrest caused by Dicky that ended with his hand broken, to get Micky to wake up and go a new direction with his boxing. As Dicky is sentenced to prison time, Micky finds a new manager and starts to actually win fights. In due time, he works himself up to get an actual title shot. But with Dicky being released from jail drug free, Micky is going to be forced to choose between his family and his new support team, as well as figure out how to win the Welterweight belt.
The Fighter is an inspirational story about events that really happened, but I left the theater feeling mostly apathetic about it. Don’t get me wrong; the film confidently tells a solid drama, and there are no stumbles along the way. It is shot well, and extremely well acted for the most part. Unfortunately, the filmmakers just didn’t do much to hold your attention throughout the film. The way the constant family bickering is portrayed is annoying. The opening sequence with the HBO camera crews for Dicky’s special is distracting and unsettling. Even the climax when Dicky returns to the gym after being released lacks the punch it needs. There is really only two scenes to be spoken of in the entire film: there’s a scene in the crack house of Dicky acting out his knock down of Sugar Ray that is stunning, and the scene where Dicky confronts Charlene about staying on with Micky and his title shot. They’re powerful and well done. The rest of the film is not bad, but not good. The best way to describe it is forgettable.
As important as the dramatic elements of the film is the portrayal of the boxing. Its important to keep the fights engaging, realistic, and new. I love how the actual boxing matches are filmed with the same cameras that are used for the ESPN and HBO specials; it adds a whole level of realism to them. Beyond that, though, The Fighter brings nothing new to the table for the filming of boxing. Sure, it looks real and accurate enough, but it’s not elevated beyond being a fight. Watch Rocky or Million Dollar Baby, and you’ll see gripping and exciting boxing filming. Watch The Fighter, and you’ll get nothing more than what you’re expecting.
Though the drama and the filming of the fights are disappointingly par, there are many strong performances from the cast of The Fighter. Though he is not the main character, Christian Bale steals each and every scene he is in. As he has done for other film in the past, he lost weight to have the scrawny frame of the drug addicted Dicky Eklund. He brings a high energy to the screen, and when you look in those crazy eyes it is hard not to believe that he is actually wacked out of his mind. Bale became the character, and I’d be hard pressed to think of anyone who deserves the Best Supporting Actor nod more than him. Though I like Amy Adams, sometimes I think she tries to hard. Not so, here; she plays Charlene Fleming like a pro. Adams is cool, calm, collected, and bad enough to punch your sister in the face right on your front porch. Its a solid performance for a talented actress. A quick kudos to Mickey O’Keefe; he is the real life trainer of the real Micky Ward, and he played himself in this film. He did good. The biggest let down, though it isn’t a bad performance, is the portrayal of Micky Ward by Mark Wahlberg. He is buff enough for it, and he plays the part well, but it never feels like Marky-Mark settled into the character. He looks uncomfortable the entire time. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but Wahlberg does not have the perfomance that he is capable of in The Fighter.
The Fighter is a good film that could have been great but wasn’t, mostly due to what I feel are a series of odd choices. Even the directing choice is odd; David O. Russell is the director of films like Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees, which are awesome flicks; but would you choose that director for a boxing movie? You should see The Fighter if you’re interested in true stories, the background of Micky Ward, or just want to see a few really spectacular perfomances. Otherwise, you’re really not missing much if you don’t see it. I’ll say this; if not for the seriously great acting, I would have been more bored than I was, and rated this film much lower than I did. At the end of the day, I really don’t understand why it is nominated for so many Golden Globes.
Punch ‘em in the Face, Marky-Mark!
I kept waiting for Bale to drop his voice and growl "I am Batman!"
The Fighter
starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Mickey O’Keefe, Jack McGee
directed by David. O. Russell
Boxing movies; there’s something inspiring about them, isn’t there? That, or maybe America just loves to get off on two people beating the life out of one another. Either way, it seems not a year goes by without some sort of boxing film hitting theaters: 2009’s Phantom Punch, 2008’s documentary Thriller in Manila, 2007’s Resurrecting the Champ, 2006’s Rocky Balboa, 2005’s Cinderella Man, 2004’s Million Dollar Baby,…the list goes on and on. 2010’s major entry into the genre will be The Fighter, now nominated for six Golden Globes.
Welcome to the life story of Micky Ward (Wahlberg). For years, he has lived in the shadow of his older brother and fellow boxer, Dicky Eklund (Bale). Dicky likes to tell the story about the time he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard, but these days he spends most of his time getting high at the local crack house of Lowell, Massachusetts. Dicky and his mother Alice (Leo) are now managing Micky’s career, but are doing so poorly. He is constantly stood up at the gym by Dicky, and his mother puts him in fights that he simply cannot win. It takes the urging of Micky’s new found love in Charlene Fleming (Adams), along with an arrest caused by Dicky that ended with his hand broken, to get Micky to wake up and go a new direction with his boxing. As Dicky is sentenced to prison time, Micky finds a new manager and starts to actually win fights. In due time, he works himself up to get an actual title shot. But with Dicky being released from jail drug free, Micky is going to be forced to choose between his family and his new support team, as well as figure out how to win the Welterweight belt.
The Fighter is an inspirational story about events that really happened, but I left the theater feeling mostly apathetic about it. Don’t get me wrong; the film confidently tells a solid drama, and there are no stumbles along the way. It is shot well, and extremely well acted for the most part. Unfortunately, the filmmakers just didn’t do much to hold your attention throughout the film. The way the constant family bickering is portrayed is annoying. The opening sequence with the HBO camera crews for Dicky’s special is distracting and unsettling. Even the climax when Dicky returns to the gym after being released lacks the punch it needs. There is really only two scenes to be spoken of in the entire film: there’s a scene in the crack house of Dicky acting out his knock down of Sugar Ray that is stunning, and the scene where Dicky confronts Charlene about staying on with Micky and his title shot. They’re powerful and well done. The rest of the film is not bad, but not good. The best way to describe it is forgettable.
As important as the dramatic elements of the film is the portrayal of the boxing. Its important to keep the fights engaging, realistic, and new. I love how the actual boxing matches are filmed with the same cameras that are used for the ESPN and HBO specials; it adds a whole level of realism to them. Beyond that, though, The Fighter brings nothing new to the table for the filming of boxing. Sure, it looks real and accurate enough, but it’s not elevated beyond being a fight. Watch Rocky or Million Dollar Baby, and you’ll see gripping and exciting boxing filming. Watch The Fighter, and you’ll get nothing more than what you’re expecting.
Though the drama and the filming of the fights are disappointingly par, there are many strong performances from the cast of The Fighter. Though he is not the main character, Christian Bale steals each and every scene he is in. As he has done for other film in the past, he lost weight to have the scrawny frame of the drug addicted Dicky Eklund. He brings a high energy to the screen, and when you look in those crazy eyes it is hard not to believe that he is actually wacked out of his mind. Bale became the character, and I’d be hard pressed to think of anyone who deserves the Best Supporting Actor nod more than him. Though I like Amy Adams, sometimes I think she tries to hard. Not so, here; she plays Charlene Fleming like a pro. Adams is cool, calm, collected, and bad enough to punch your sister in the face right on your front porch. Its a solid performance for a talented actress. A quick kudos to Mickey O’Keefe; he is the real life trainer of the real Micky Ward, and he played himself in this film. He did good. The biggest let down, though it isn’t a bad performance, is the portrayal of Micky Ward by Mark Wahlberg. He is buff enough for it, and he plays the part well, but it never feels like Marky-Mark settled into the character. He looks uncomfortable the entire time. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but Wahlberg does not have the perfomance that he is capable of in The Fighter.
The Fighter is a good film that could have been great but wasn’t, mostly due to what I feel are a series of odd choices. Even the directing choice is odd; David O. Russell is the director of films like Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees, which are awesome flicks; but would you choose that director for a boxing movie? You should see The Fighter if you’re interested in true stories, the background of Micky Ward, or just want to see a few really spectacular perfomances. Otherwise, you’re really not missing much if you don’t see it. I’ll say this; if not for the seriously great acting, I would have been more bored than I was, and rated this film much lower than I did. At the end of the day, I really don’t understand why it is nominated for so many Golden Globes.