Beef

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2011)

The Fighter is a 2010 biographical sports film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams. The film centers on the life of professional boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale). Amy Adams co- stars as a love interest of Ward (Wikipedia, because am lazy i cant spell actors names and also I cant remember characters names).
This is a film that mixes both the typical Rocky underdog sports movie with an interesting look at dysfunctional family life. It centres on Irish Micky Wards trials and tribulation as struggling professional fighter trying to cut in a world where his brother over shadows him both in persona and notoriety. Dicky who had gained his 15 minutes of fame for knocking down Sugar Ray Lenard (think I have spelt that right) looms large over Micky like impeding potato famine. For me the films strongest points are watching the family tear its self apart through greed and pride as it implodes under the weight of its own pressure. The family which resembles a gang of pikeys from snatch are all at the bottom end of society and see mickeys possible success as an escape from there mega existence. Micky finds love and with it the strength to stand up to his family's incessant demands, not in some convoluted Disney sense but some sort of fighting back against his mother whipped, brother whipped trainer whipped arse. The pussy actually sets him free.
There are some excellent performances here, Christian Bail best in my opinion. He plays a balding crack head to perfection. I know he goes to some extreme lengths for his character (the machinist) but he really looks like he's been sucking tramps off for tasty hit of crunk, even his spine seems bent and contorted. He's gone a long way to redeeming himself, I hated is constipated version of batman and the mega turkey that was Terminator Salvation. Whalbergs beefed up for the part maybe a bit too much, looks a bit chubby and sluggish in some of the fight scenes. Another thing I found with Wahlberg's character was the docility of his performance. I don't know if this can be a criticism of Wahlberg because this could be a character trait and also the feeling of hopelessness and frustration of his trappings, he could have done with some of the crack is brother smoking to help him emote more. It sounds like a negative review but other than Wahlberg being a bit chubby and lacklustre it really is excellent film with strong script and supporting cast. The interpersonal relationships are played with some real honestly and it is worth watching as an examination of a lower class immigrant family struggling in the American dream. This is where the film stands up and is not the typical clichéd believe in yourself sports story normally associated with this type of film.