The Fighter [MA]

Dicky was once the pride of Lowell, Massachusetts, a boxer of talent who went toe-to-toe with champ Sugar Ray Leonard. But Dicky has fallen on hard times and has become a crack addict. The new fighter of the family is Micky, who’s fledgling career is going nowhere under the management of his mother. When a fight nearly kills him, his iron-willed girlfriend, Charlene, persuades Micky to split from his family and be his only priority. But when Micky gets the opportunity of a lifetime, it becomes clear to him that it’s going to take Charlene, his new trainer, and his entire family to make him a champ. 

I am still shaking from the adrenaline rush that this darkly funny and ambitious drama provides. Based on a true story, The Fighter is an amazing piece of work filled with fighting, drama, comedy, and memorable, really memorable performances. 

Dicky was once the pride of Lowell, Massachusetts, a boxer of great talent who went toe-to-toe with title champ, Sugar Ray Leonard. But Dicky has fallen on hard times and become a crack addict. The new fighter of the family is Dicky’s half-brother Micky, who’s fledgling career is going nowhere under the management of his mother, Alice. When a mismatched fight nearly kills him, Mickey is persuaded by his girlfriend, Charlene, to do the unthinkable: split from the family and make a career on his own, away from his aggressively competitive mother and without his troubled brother. But when Micky gets the opportunity of a lifetime; a shot at a title match, it becomes clear to him that it’s going to take Charlene, his new trainer, his mother, his brother, and his entire family to get him there. 

The story is already there, armed with elements of inspiration, ambition, comedy, and drama. But what made The Fighter a really memorable movie were the knockout (forgive the wording) performances. Each actor was brilliant and played perfectly towards and against one another. 

Mark Wahlberg as Micky was introverted, reserved, and sort of emotionally confused, which was amazing to watch against Christian Bale who played Dicky and gave a performance that was loud, egocentric, rebellious, and reckless. He got the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this film. Then there was Amy Adams who played Charlene and gave a performance that was strong, demanding, and strangely insightful, which played brilliantly against the performance of Melissa Leo who played Alice and gave a performance that was competitive, aggressive, all-knowing, and blind, completely unaware of any emotional turmoil that was going within her family. Seriously, her performance was SO good. I was literally screaming profanities at her character the entire time. I have never felt so blindly enraged by a character before. I saw red each time she was onscreen. It’s no wonder she got the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress! 

Filled with drama, dark comedy, a wicked soundtrack, ambition, violence, and killer performances, The Fighter was an amazing film about a great true story. Everyone who worked on this film should be proud of themselves because this was just FANTASTIC!