The Fighter (click here to get it from Amazon.com) is a sports drama (directed by David O. Russell), true-life story about professional boxer-to-be “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), and his relationship with his troubled brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale). This is a highly entertaining boxing movie and yes, it follows the formula, but even though you perhaps saw Rocky, The Fighter is something special thanks largely to its stars.
The story takes place in the working-class town of Lowell, Massachusetts during the early ’90s. Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) lives in the shadow of a former boxer, his half-brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), and they both share a passion for boxing. Dicky is Mickey’s idol and his trainer, mother Alice (Melissa Leo) works as Mickey’s manager, and later he meets Charlene (Amy Adams), a local barmaid. Dicky is a drug addict, Alice is a drinking, chain-smoking dragon-mother who is still living off the glow of Dicky’s expired fame and Charlene is a girl who wants to help Mickey get his head on straight. We get to meet here some really troubled characters (even sweet Charlene defines herself as a screw up who partied away her chance at college). So the whole Mickey’s career is a nice tight family operation. Mickey is trying to find his way through, and struggles between dreams, obligations, family and loyalty.
Mickey fights not only in the ring but also the chaos surrounding him, and how it ends, you’ll know if you see this outstanding movie about the delusions and realities of fame, fortune and success. You’ll see that The Fighter is a rarity within the sports drama sub-genre.
The cast did a phenomenal job of bringing these rich and crazy characters to life which can be difficult in a film like this. Since it’s performed by some of the best actors in the business they manage to bring this story alive for us.
