There's nothing like a good boxing movie. No other sport translates so perfectly to the cinema experience like the "Sweet Science", two gladiatorial warriors locked in combat, often against more than just the man standing across from them. Boxing movies are very rarely ever about landing the most punches against your opponent, they tend to be about withstanding the many body blows life delivers on a daily basis. The Fighter is just such a story, similarly inspirational and tragic cautionary tale of the true lives of championship fighter "Irish" Micky Ward(Mark Wahlberg) and his troubled brother Dicky(Christian Bale).
Making his bones in the hard scrabble town of Lowell, Massachusetts, Micky and his family have always been local celebrities. Unfortunately that type of fame cuts both ways. The Wards are simultaneously loved and pitied by the townsfolk. Micky is the inspiration, the grunt road worker scratching and clawing his way to the top of the boxing heap, setbacks and all. Dicky is the family disappointment, having once had the potential for greatness, he clings to the memory of the one time he "knocked down" Sugar Ray Leonard in a match. His talents and potential long since eroded due to rampant drug use, Dicky serves as Micky's mostly unreliable trainer.
The Ward boys are enabled, both for good and bad, by a huge family of virtually all women. Most especially their overbearing mother, Alice(the fabulous Melissa Leo), who serves as Micky's ill equipped manager. The combination of Alice and Dicky is a roadblock to Micky's career. It doesn't help that Alice perhaps has too much faith in her boys, always setting Micky up for fights he can't possibly win, and constantly looking past Dicky's obvious personal demons.
Micky's too loyal to ever kick his family to the curb. It'll take an outsider to make him see with fresh eyes, and that opportunity arises when he works up the nerve to ask out tough as nails bartender, Charlene Fleming(Amy Adams). She instantly sees Micky's potential, even if he doesn't see it in himself. Charlene instantly is put at odds with the rest of the Ward clan for sticking her "MTV Girl" nose where it doesn't belong.
While The Fighter is undoubtedly tough, the script by Scott Silver, Eric Johnson, and Paul Tamasy mines a lot of humor out of pain. The Ward Women are a literal fighting force of their own, and the way their attitudes sway like the wind is hilarious. Dicky's struggles are played up both as comical(like jumping out of a window to avoid his mom) and tragic. Bale is simply fantastic here, and takes over every single moment he's in. If you've ever actually seen the real life Dicky Ecklund, you'll know he's a true character. A unique soul. Bale doesn't try to imitate him, he just makes the character his own. If Wahlberg spent weeks training with Freddie Roach to prepare for the boxing scenes, Bale must've gone through a speed dieting course with Jillian Michaels. He's thinned out and hollow looking, similar to what he put himself through for The Machinist
a few years ago.Wahlberg is solid in a role he could probably do in his sleep. Even though this is a story ostensibly about Micky Ward, he's often left somewhere in the background. Many people affect his life and even talk about Micky's situation with him right there in the room, but it's only when absolutely necessary that he takes charge. I love that aspect of Wahlberg's performance. It allows the supremely talented supporting cast to do their thing. Do I even need to say how good Amy Adams is? She's somehow even more beautiful with all her radiance stripped away. You can picture someone like her working in a bar in a place like that, seen as a threat by all the women even though her situation is no better than theirs.
David O. Russell has directed Mark Wahlberg a couple of times before in Three Kings
and 2004's I Heart Huckabees
. The two have become a package deal of sorts, and will shoot for their most lucrative pairing next year with the release of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It'll likely bust the box office and put O. Russell near the top of Hollywood's list of go to directors.That's all well and good, but it's The Fighter that'll earn him Oscar nominations and awards. Even though Micky Ward's story reads like a Hollywood cliche, The Fighter proves that it doesn't have to be predictable.
