Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Dendrie Taylor
Directed By: David O. Russell
Run Time: 1 hr 54 minutes
The Fighter chronicles the life of boxer Micky Ward (played by Wahlberg) and his brother Dick Eklund (played by Bale) as Micky works his way to the Welterweight Champion title and as his brother spirals into drugs and the realization that his own boxing career is long over.
Ah, Oscar season. I'll be glad when it's over. I think I always am. It's exciting to see what gets nominated. It's good for me to go see "good for me" movies, which can be a refreshing change from the slap-stick comedies, blood and guts horror movies, and the goofy animated kid flicks. I did not want to see this one when the previews first were aired. I was a little annoyed at "having" to see it. And I did have to see it because there were so many nominations. Quite frankly, I'm not sure any of them are deserved. Yeah, I said it. Christian Bale was so over the top, trying too hard, and just plain goofy/bad acting. I know Dick was strung out on crack and was hogging Micky's spotlight but I don't think he was cartoonish. Ugh. It was annoying. And just because Amy Adam's character swears a lot and punches Micky's sister in the face doesn't mean she was playing tough. Her sweetness, even when swearing and punching, still shone through. I would really like to see Melissa Leo (who plays Dick and Micky's mother) in another movie. I need to compare and contrast her performance with another one. She could have just been playing herself (or a character she plays often). It wasn't noteworthy but in comparison, it just might be.
I do not like boxing so a lot of this movie was tough for me, particularly Micky's fight in Las Vegas. I can handle slasher movies because it's obviously not real (nor do a lot of those types of things happen in real life) but the fight scenes were tough. Without spoiling the movie too much (it is based on real life events), Micky doesn't do well in a lot of his fights. There's a lot of blood. A lot of beat downs.
The one thing that strikes me most about this movie is how tough living in Lowell, MA must be. I'm not sure if they cast people who look older than they are for a reason (to depict how the tough living robs them of their youth) or applied makeup to make them look harsh, but I was absolutely floored when I found out some of the women were Micky's sisters. They looked older than his mother! (And then, later, when I verified on imdb.com, it turns out the actresses who played his sisters were just 10 years younger - some of them - than the woman who played his mother). They were poor. There were 10 of them living in one house. No one seemed to have a good job. They were all just waiting for either Micky or Dick to make it big. So sad.
This movie is sad on so many levels. Micky seemed to live for his family, struggle to put their needs before his so much so that his career took a beating - and so did he - as a result. He let his family take advantage of him, let them steer him incorrectly down the wrong path, because he believed that family came first. And his family took advanatage of that. So sad. He almost didn't make it because of them. They only supported him as long as they benefited from it and when they didn't, they attacked him (literally).
Oooh, one tidbit I learned during my imdb.com search - the man that plays the police chief and his trainer plays himself. That's actually his trainer in real life! So... Lowell police chief, boxing trainer, and now actor. He did a fine job.
So... unless you want to see overacting (cough... Bale) and a lot of family back-stabbing and inner turmoil, not to mention blood splatterings in the boxing ring, you can probably skip this movie. I wasn't wowed by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment