THE FIGHTER: A KO ENSEMBLEMickey Ward: I'm the one who's fighting.
Not you, not you, and not you.
The Fighter, is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title while dragging behind him his half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer whose life is impacted by living a less than angelic existence. While this film appears to be another in a long line of local boy makes good, it goes deeper than that in making it more personable and giving a look at the family as a whole and how this quest for greatness effects them all. Mark Mark (yes, I will forever call him that until he asks me not to) Wahlberg delivers a solid performance as the fighter with a dream and a pain in the ass family who simultaneously drag him down and pull him up. The two greatest offenders being his mother played by Melissa Leo, brash and abrasive, and his drug addicted, jail time serving brother seamlessly portrayed by Christian Bale. In fact, it is Bale who takes the spotlight away from Wahlberg not only with his acting, but by the story itself. At the end of the movie (and during the awards show season) we were introduced to the real pair of brothers and Bale is spot on in his recreation of Dicky, as also attested to by the slew of awards he received. The only real difference I found in this film was the focus on the family rather than just the man doing the actual fighting; like the family was fighting in the ring with him. It is a solid film carried well by Wahlberg but crafted by Leo and Bale. Amy Adams also did a top notch job as Mickey's girlfriend.
The Fighter, is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title while dragging behind him his half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer whose life is impacted by living a less than angelic existence. While this film appears to be another in a long line of local boy makes good, it goes deeper than that in making it more personable and giving a look at the family as a whole and how this quest for greatness effects them all. Mark Mark (yes, I will forever call him that until he asks me not to) Wahlberg delivers a solid performance as the fighter with a dream and a pain in the ass family who simultaneously drag him down and pull him up. The two greatest offenders being his mother played by Melissa Leo, brash and abrasive, and his drug addicted, jail time serving brother seamlessly portrayed by Christian Bale. In fact, it is Bale who takes the spotlight away from Wahlberg not only with his acting, but by the story itself. At the end of the movie (and during the awards show season) we were introduced to the real pair of brothers and Bale is spot on in his recreation of Dicky, as also attested to by the slew of awards he received. The only real difference I found in this film was the focus on the family rather than just the man doing the actual fighting; like the family was fighting in the ring with him. It is a solid film carried well by Wahlberg but crafted by Leo and Bale. Amy Adams also did a top notch job as Mickey's girlfriend.
