I’m going to be very honest with you. Before I watched the trailer for this film, I said to myself: “What could you possibly bring to us that we haven’t seen before?” It’s the same rags-to-riches, triumph-over-odds tale that we have seen countless times. Well, it turns out quite a bit, and who doesn’t love an inspiring story about a boxer?
Rocky was nominated for 10 Oscars, including two for Sylvester Stallone with Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay (left with three for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Film Editing). Then you have one of Martin Scorsese’s best work, Raging Bull, which was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Director for Scorsese and Best Picture (won two with Best Actor for Robert De Niro and Best Film Editing). The reasons why these two films worked is because the actors and the film itself were authentic and felt real rather than a fairy tale.
In The Fighter, Mark Wahlberg plays our real life protagonist, Micky Ward, the younger brother to Dickie Eckland, played by Christian Bale.
Dickie used to be a boxing legend, until his career collapsed when he developed a crack addiction and now trains his brother. But Dickie is still the leading man, while Micky is overshadowed by his brother’s former success and just a stepping stone for other fighters to beat the shit out of him. Conflicted by everyone telling him what to do, it is more of a fight to stand up for himself and even stand up his own two feet than it is to fight in the ring.
The performances from this film are really good. Wahlberg finally shows us how good an actor he can be after the awful performances from The Happening and Max Payne. Amy Adams continues to be exceptional and stands out amongst the crowd, but it’s Christian Bale who steals the spotlight in making his best performance of his career. He has reportedly lost weight to portray the drug addicted ex-boxer – something he has done before in The Machinist (and he again has to bring back the muscle to play Bruce Wayne/Batman for The Dark Knight Rises) which shows the talent he has and the respect for his work to fully immerse himself in the character.
You can see the expression in his eyes, and the energy that Bale’s Eckland always gets a kick out of the sport. Although it is heart-breaking when he thinks HBO are documenting his comeback, while in actual fact he’s a subject of a failed sportsman succumbed to drug addiction and further brings humiliation to the family.
The setting and the overall film looks authentic. You could feel the urban hard-working town of Lowell, Massachusetts. To the local bars and diners, down to the streets and neighbourhood, you feel it’s a community. Ever since the success of The Departed, Massachusetts (especially Boston) seems more popular with film locations. To be honest, I love MA and it brings back memories of staying in the States (granted I didn’t notice or see the bad side of it during that time). And it’s a nice change since most of these films would be set either in L.A. or New York.
Darren Aronofsky was originally signed on to direct the film, until he left to work on Black Swan. The Fighter and Aronofsky’s previous film, The Wrestler, have a similar feel – going for a rough look rather than to be soft and safe, especially with the fights needing to look and feel realistic. It was reported that 1990’s era cameras were used for the fights. Either way, they’re very well choreographed, and even made me want to stand up and shout: “Come on, Mark! Kick his fucking ass!”
Verdict: A great film that really does make you root for Wahlberg. Stellar performances from Bale and Adams, and well deserved for their award recognition. Looks like we needed another inspiring boxer after all!
4/5