REVIEW: The Fighter

The Fighter (2010): Dir. David O. Russell. Written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. Rated R (language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality). Running time: 115 minutes.

3 stars (out of four)

Boxing dramas often tell the story of one man’s path to redemption. In The Fighter, we get two. The film is based on the life story of half-brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, and follows Micky’s struggle earn a name for himself in the shadow of his older brother and trainer.

Thirteen years earlier, Dicky (played by Christian Bale) beat Sugar Ray Leonard and he hasn’t stopped talking about it since. He’s known as “The Pride of Lowell” (his hometown in Massachusetts) and watching him mingle and greet local faces on the street, it’s easy see how he became a town hero. Following him around is an HBO film crew that Dicky explains to his family is shooting a documentary about his comeback. That comeback seems unlikely, though. Whatever talent he had years earlier looks to have left him. His current life is in shambles and his frequent visits to a local crack house make him absent for much of Micky’s training.

Micky (Mark Wahlberg), meanwhile, shows great promise in the here and now but can’t seem to get the fights he needs. His mother and manager (Melissa Leo) is too hung up on Dicky’s former glory to recognize this, and so Micky gets pulverized by guys outside his weight class just so his family can get paid for the match. He’s ready to quit the sport entirely when he meets Charlene (Amy Adams), a bartender who encourages Micky keep fighting, but without his family bringing him down.

The movie has an odd structure that shifts focus back and forth between its two main characters, leaving the viewer a little unsure of who the protagonist is meant to be. Dicky’s exuberant personality dominates the early scenes and draws attention away from the more stoic Micky, a dynamic that no doubt mimics their real-life relationship. Once Dicky hits rock bottom though, the middle third of the film consists of Micky’s training and rise to success.

This being a boxing movie, the story is a fairly familiar one. The Fighter’s surprises, however, do not necessarily come from the outcomes of the fights but from the source of the film’s emotional payoff. In the final leg of the film, the brothers’ relationship comes front and center. Dicky’s search for redemption is inextricably tied to his brother’s efforts to succeed in the game, and this balance of storylines ends the film on a very strong note.

This is also a movie filled with strong performances. Christian Bale leads the pack with a career best as Dicky, whose charismatic energy is a far cry from the stone-faced heroes the actor is asked to play in action movies. Once again, Bale has lost weight to play the role but his performance goes beyond a physical transformation or imitation (a clip of the real-life Dicky in the closing credits though shows that Bale’s acting is spot on). Dicky is a tragic figure who doesn’t have much to hold onto. Even his one proud accomplishment is believed by some to have been a fluke (“Sugar Ray tripped,” says a few of the locals). He projects a charming persona but is consumed by inner shame and Bale is thrilling to watch as a man careening through this complex set of emotions.

Mark Wahlberg gives a effective and restrained performance, though next to Bale he might be mistaken for underacting. The long-suffering Micky isn’t as dynamic to watch as his brother, but Wahlberg is a strong leading actor and can more than carry his scenes without Bale. Melissa Leo shines in a supporting role as their mother, a manipulative woman whose love for her eldest son comes through even during her fervent denial of his drug addiction. Amy Adams gets the opportunity to play against type as the feisty and sexy love interest and she’s a joy to watch in the role. Also noteworthy is Mickey O’Keefe playing himself, the upstanding cop who trains Micky in Dicky’s absence. Despite having no prior acting experience, O’Keefe holds his own amongst A-listers and gives a memorable performance.

Mark Wahlberg worked very hard to get The Fighter made and though the project shifted hands numerous times between different writers and directors, the final product shows no mark of its long road to theaters. Director David O. Russell’s past features have included stylized fare such as Three Kings and I ♥ Huckabees, but his work here bears the restraint of one who treads more carefully when handling another’s story. His presence is still felt though and the movie is wonderfully shot, particularly in the ring. The matches are faithfully recreated and easy to follow (even to a boxing novice such as myself).

The Fighter at first seems more like a pair of character studies than a plot-centric story, but builds over the course of its two-hour running time, slowly drawing you in. By the end, one can’t help but get swept up in the stakes of these two brothers. The final match is a requisite scene in any boxing drama, but it works so well here because the characters and story have earned our emotional investment.

- Steve Avigliano, 1/15/11