The Fighter

Directed by David O. Russell

[rating: 4/5]

Just as the Hollywood remakes and sequels brigade continue their assault on originality, along comes The Fighter to hit back. This is an example of how to take a big box of movie clichés and combine them into a movie so engrossing you don’t care it’s been done before.

The Fighter plots the early boxing career of Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his relationship with his dysfunctional family, particularly his half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale) as both his trainer and hero. After the Terminator Salvation fiasco, Bale has become something of a figure of ridicule- see the numerous YouTube mash-ups- but here he reminds us he is one of the most capable actors of our generation.

The first boxer in the family, Dicky is now a gaunt shadow of a man, having been ruined by drug addiction.  Throughout, Dicky lives a second career vicariously through his brother, and the film’s best scene comes when he is forced confront the fact he is no longer the most successful member of his family.

Melissa Leo also puts in a brilliant performance as Micky’s mother and manager. Exploited by event organisers due to her naivety, she repeatedly enters him in matches he has no chance of winning. Ferociously confrontational, Leo’s expertly judged performance is comparable to a similar performance by Barbara Hershey in another awards-contender Black Swan.

It’s not the film’s only link to Black Swan, whose director, Darren Aronofsky, once planned on directing it as his follow-up to 2008’s The Wrestler. Whilst it certainly would have been interesting to see Aronofsky’s bleak take, it’s probably for the best that he decided to pass on it.  Unlike The Wrestler, this is a much subtler affair- it’s based on a true story- and whilst the Hollywood ending is indeed delivered, it is better that no firm conclusions concerning the implications to the tangled web of Micky’s family dynamics are made.

The real disappointment  is Wahlberg himself. Micky is portrayed as shy and unwilling to take his career into his own hands, and we see in arguments with his mother it is his girlfriend (Adams) who does most of the talking. Too rarely do we see any real emotion from him, which can be quite unsatisfying to watch. It may seem unfair to praise the subtlety of the film while criticising Wahlberg for not being overtly emotional, but it almost feels that the film works despite its central performance.

Nonetheless, the journey to the emotional catharsis of the knock out ending is one well worth taking.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwv7kT9P0mg