The Fighter
Director, David O. Russell, delivers a one-two punch with his boxing rendition titled The Fighter. Russell’s hard hitting cast includes: Mark Walberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo to name just a few. Although the film gets TKOd by The King’s Speech for Best Picture, Bale and Leo pull off the stunning upset to walk away with the Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards respectively. In all, The Fighter was able to score seven Oscar nominations, which were all well deserved.
Micky Ward (Walberg) opens up the movie with his half-brother Dicky (Bale) with what appears to be a documentary on the comeback attempt of Dicky Ward to the boxing profession. To say that the brothers are obsessed with boxing is certainly a mild understatement, as we quickly learn that Dicky’s claim to fame is that he “knocked” Sugar Ray Leonard down during a match back in his hay day. He did not go on to win the fight; he simply had knocked the champ to the ground and became an instant hometown hero. After his 15 minutes of fame, Dicky decides to start training his younger brother who doesn’t seem to have the proclivity to be the great fighter his family expects.
Speaking of the Ward family, they can be summed up in one word and that is dysfunctional. The matriarch, Alice (Leo), of the family is always trying to cut a deal to get her sons a chance to fight in the next big match. Alice has nine children, which is explained in a less than understandable way within the movie. Suffice it to say, she is a power house and tends to rule the boys lives with her larger than life personality and turns a blind eye when reality becomes too intrusive.
The family struggles come to a culmination when Dicky and Alice schedule a fight for Micky and a replacement fighter must be substituted for an ailing competitor. The options are to face another opponent, who is in a higher weight class, or go home without getting paid. The two convince Micky to proceed with the fight and he gets pummeled and humiliated all in one fell swoop. Losing only bothered him because he promised his little girl that he would win, so that he could purchase a larger apartment and they would be able to spend more time together. After his defeat, he turns to his romantic interest, Charlene (Adams), who encourages him to stand up to his family and chart his own course and career.
As would be assumed, the family does not take the news well that Micky does not want them to be involved in his boxing career. The struggle continues as Dicky gets arrested and sent to prison for a laundry list of charges. During his time in prison he goes through withdrawal (from cocaine) and starts to clean up his act. However, as time moves forward on the outside of the prison, Micky makes a deal with his trainer and girlfriend that he will no longer allow his mother or brother to participate in his boxing career.
His career begins to blossom and he starts to move out of the ever long shadow that his brother had cast over him for so many years. The wins start to pile up just in time for his older brother to be released from jail. Squelching on his deal with his girlfriend and current trainer, Micky asks his brother to return in a training capacity. The decision fractures his core group once again, but this time Dicky is the one who puts the pieces back together. He extends the olive branch to get both Charlene and Micky’s trainer to rejoin the team. It certainly isn’t a match made in heaven, but they all seem to coexist in order to help Micky reach his title shot. Does he win, does he lose, or does it even matter? Family prevails in the end and most of the time that’s exactly how it should play out.
His career begins to blossom and he starts to move out of the ever long shadow that his brother had cast over him for so many years. The wins start to pile up just in time for his older brother to be released from jail. Squelching on his deal with his girlfriend and current trainer, Micky asks his brother to return in a training capacity. The decision fractures his core group once again, but this time Dicky is the one who puts the pieces back together. He extends the olive branch to get both Charlene and Micky’s trainer to rejoin the team. It certainly isn’t a match made in heaven, but they all seem to coexist in order to help Micky reach his title shot. Does he win, does he lose, or does it even matter? Family prevails in the end and most of the time that’s exactly how it should play out.
This film was such a huge breath of fresh air. The writing was good, direction superior, but the acting was first rate. Boxing movies have been done to death, so it’s difficult to bring a little something different to an already saturated genre. Russell pulls it off well as he ties together a boxer and a family fighting to stay together. I give The Fighter a solid 4 stars. I enjoyed the movie and it kept me wanting to see what happened next. If you enjoy a good boxing movie, you may want to go a few rounds with this one. It’s a knock out for sure!
Just as a side note, the language in this film puts Good Will Hunting to shame, so most likely not appropriate for younger viewers.
That’s How Matt Sees It!
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