The Fighter is a good boxing drama, but it fails to deliver a hefty punch. Overrated and over-hyped. A giant disappointment.

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2011)

I was really looking forward to The Fighter after the hype shown on here with most of the ratings being eight, nine and ten and 8.2 overall, plus also the critics praising it comparing to be like Rocky etc and that Christian Bale deserves an Oscar for best actor or whatever and thought it would ring true sadly it did not.
I knew the story was formulaic and cliché with the exact same structure as Rocky making it predictable, that wasn't the problem. My problem the film fails to be inspirational or have much heart and emotion like Rocky. Many of the characters are remotely unlikeable like Alice Ward, the mother (Mellisa Leo), but the biggest problem of this movie was Micky's (Mark Wahlberg) brother 'Dickie' (Christian Bale) who is a selfish crack-head and dosen't really redeem himself much, only a little in the last half hour. You don't really come to care about him as result as he treats his brother like crap (just like his mum) and dosen't care about his little son. Also there is little depth or characterisation to the characters like we never find out what motivated Dickie to become involved in violence and drugs so they just seem one-dimensional including Walhberg's character Micky. Part of me not liking this film as much as others like Rocky is Dickie being unlikeable but this is based on a true story, so the character is accurately portrayed and director David Russel dosen't pretend otherwise. My problem is that Bale is completely the wrong actor for this role, which makes his performance I'm afraid terrible and one of his worst and nowhere near worthy of an Oscar. He isn't a bad actor as I liked him in Equilibrium, Batman Begins, The Machinist and Terminator Salvation (though not The Dark Knight). But he just didn't fit into the role for me and looked like a young boy who wears his father's clothes and it's too big for him. As a result his character comes across as childish in that result and instead of goofy charming is goofy idiot and annoying. Another problem is the script which is bad (just like in Rocky), but the actors used it and managed to make it seem meaningful, like Stallone with his gruff charm and facial expressions. Bale pretty much keeps the same throughout and even Walhberg wasn't good at first and sounded dull at certain points.
Furthermore though the boxing fights are competently shot and choreographed, it's quite mediocre really with little excitement,spirit or inspiration unlike in Rocky or Raging Bull where you really cheer for the main character and want him to win. The Fighter has the opposite effect.
However Melissa Leo gives a good performance as Micky's mum, Walhberg improves as the film goes and adapts himself to the script and puts more effort into how he projects his dialogue, which makes his acting worthy by the end. But the best performance is Micky's girlfriend Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams) who is terrific and gives a honest and believable performance lending her character substance and depth which the others sadly lack. Also I like that she stuck by Micky throughout unlike his so called family and actually punches one of Angie's dim-witted sisters (that was a classic moment). I also enjoyed the music and it was well shot and edited.
It did start out terrible but it got better and it entertained me enough, but it's been well over-hyped with a lot of people duped into believing it is as great as Rocky. I'm afraid it reaches nowhere near and if Bale does get the Oscar, it would be criminal as it deserves to go to other actors I've seen who have been far more exceptional than him. 2011 has been a amazing year of films for me up till now and The Fighter is the worst I've seen so far (of the previous seven I've seen), but it won't remain the worst. It's just it's the first film this year I've been disappointed by. It's worth seeing and it entertains with a couple of great performances but it's easily forgettable and not worth seeing at the pictures, only renting on DVD. A great disappointment as it had the potential to be so much more.