"The Fighter" is This Year's Strong Contender

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2010)

Do we need another boxing movie? After seeing several boxing films over the years they all seem the same. Take a story of a struggling boxer who will do anything for his shot at the title. Then through hard work and determination he earns his shot and he gets the girl. It seems like a cookie cutter format that audiences come to expect. So, do we need "The Fighter?" Yes we do.
"The Fighter" (directed by David O. Russell) is based on the true story of brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund. And, if it weren't for the outstanding cast this would have been another boxing movie trying to make a buck.
We start the story in Lowell, Mass. in 1993. Dicky (played by Christian Bale) is being interviewed by an HBO film crew for a documentary about crack cocaine users in Lowell. All the while, Dicky has convinced himself that it is a documentary about his comeback. Back in the 1970s, Dicky was known as the "Pride of Lowell" for his boxing career. Thanks to Bale's ability to become the characters that he plays, the audience is taken on a journey. First we despise Dicky for his addiction. Then we tolerate him for his playfulness and lovability. Then finally we are cheering for his redemption.
This couldn't be an entire movie about a crack-head ex-boxer who redeems himself. At the start we are introduced to Dicky's brother Micky (played by Mark Wahlberg), who is known as a "stepping stone," in boxing terms that means other boxers fight him to move up in their own careers. This role seems to fit Wahlberg quite well. In some of his other films he has an unintentional trademark of looking constantly perplexed. But, in this film his confused expressions play to his strength. Micky is being torn in several directions from his brother, his mother, his sisters and his new girlfriend, Charlene (played by Amy Adams). He needs to look confused throughout the story; he simply doesn't know who to trust.
While Dicky is training with Micky, their mother Alice (played by Melissa Leo) is managing Micky's career just the same as she managed Dicky's career. She smokes like a chimney and lives proudly with the fact that she managed Dicky in his prime while raising nine children.
Speaking of the nine children, the two brothers have seven sisters to contend with throughout the film. The casting for these seven women was perfect. It makes me wonder if a group of actresses could be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. These women made the film fun with their heavy, snide "Bah-ston" accents, wicked glares, tough-as-nails attitudes and their hair styles which looked like they needed building permits (after all it was 1993).
We see only one boxing match in the first half of the film. Russell wanted us to focus on Dicky's crack addiction, Micky's struggle to find balance in his life and Alice's determination to get her sons known in the boxing world. At the turning point in the film, Dicky becomes incarcerated and Micky takes on a new manager and drops Dicky as his trainer. He employs Mickey O'Keefe who was the real life mentor for Micky. We are finally introduced to a montage of fights where Micky works his way up to and finally given his shot at the title.
Should you see this movie? Yes. Not only for the story, but because you can see about 12 performances of actors and actresses that were made for these roles. Russell was able to bring out the strengths of each one of the cast. In return he gives the audience a film that felt new even if we have seen it before.