The Fighter

Going by the title and the few trailors I had seen, The Fighter looked like another movie based on a sport that has been topic of many great English movies and probably exploited to the core, Boxing; with the evergreen theme of triumph of the underdog. However, once the movie begins you soon realize it’s not only about the brutal sport but more than that about the relationship between 2 brothers, a man fighting with himself and a complex family.

Based on the real life story of welterweight professional boxer Micky Ward and his half brother Dicky Ward who is a ‘crack’ addicted former boxer and also Micky’s trainer/coach, the first thing that strikes you when the movie begins is the use of cameras of probably the same era that the movie is set in which gives it an entirely authentic feel. The movie begins with filming of an HBO documentary on Dicky which he believes is about his career and also shows him coaching his brother Micky who is following in his brother’s footsteps. The problem however is that no matter how much both brothers respect & love each other Dicky can’t overcome his crack addiction and focus on coaching his brother for whom it’s now or never to make it big. When instead of facing his planned opponent Micky is forced by Dicky & his mother (also manager) to fight a boxer 18 pounds heavier, he ends up defeated, humiliated and considers giving up boxing for good. He finds solace in his girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams) who pushes him to focus and resume training but without his brother & mother leading to a situation where Dicky gets arrested and Micky, a broken hand. Charlene also gets on the wrong terms with Micky’s family of 7 wacky sisters & mother as obviously for them she is the one breaking up the close knit family - there is actually a fist fight between Charlene and the sisters.

Under the guidance of new coach & manager, Micky resumes his boxing career, but whether he makes it big without his brother is for you to go & see. It is a movie driven by performances, the plot is based on a real story and so obviously is believable but what stands out in the movie is how delicately the close relationships are shown between the characters and their struggles with the same.

Amy Adams as Charlene & Melissa Leo as Micky’s mother are brilliant in their roles and lend a great deal of depth to the characters, especially Melissa who is the MAN of the family sometimes and a vulnerable mother the next. Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward is good and does a restraint act, his physique clearly shows how hard he has worked for this role. But the show stealer for me is undoubtedly Christian Bale as Dicky Ward. After playing the action man in movies like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Terminator Salvation, etc. I expected Bale to play the central character of Micky Ward but the way he has portrayed Dicky is unbelievably believable. From the first scene itself you can tell that there is something wrong with this guy, it’s all there in his body language - the way he speaks, the constant shifting, the nervousness & even the blank stares. His accent is heavily Irish and also the amount of weight he must have lost showcases how seriously he has taken this challenging role and done complete justice to it. At no point in the movie can you see the ‘Batman’ in Bale and for me that is a true mark of a great actor – the ability to move on from one strong role to another without a hint of the previous character.

The fights are also great and shot like the actual fights. The movie has some great moments, few of these are when Melissa catches Dicky running away after she catches him junking and then breaks down in the car with Dicky. Another scene that gives you the jitters is when the entire Ward family (Dicky in jail, Micky at his home, mother & 7 sisters together) watch the HBO documentary that Dicky believed was about him but turns out to be one on Crack addiction. The climax is humbling and watch out particularly for Bale & Wahlberg – another great moment.

One confession I have is that I still don’t know who ‘The Fighter’ in the movie is, whether it is Mark Wahlberg as the struggling boxer or Christian Bale as the struggling crack addict. Going by the Oscar nominations, it does seem that Bale is the supporting actor and Wahlberg is the lead which is probably a good thing for Bale as I feel he deserves the Oscar for this and being the Best Actor category would have pitted him against Colin Firth who also deserves Oscar for The King’s Speech.

PS – by the time you would have read this, the OSCAR results would be out, but still ALL D BEST, Mr. BALE.

My Rating - 8/10
(Script - 7/10; Direction – 8/10; Performance – 9.5/10; Entertainment - 8/10; Music – 7/10)

Starring: Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige), Mark Wahlberg (Max Payne, The Departed), Amy Adams (Leap Year), Melissa Leo

Director: David O. Russell (Three Kings)

Producer: various

Writer: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson

Music: Michael Brook (Road, Movie)