Mickey's Corner: 121 Pounds

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2010)

The "Fighter" has been nominated for six Golden Globe awards including Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director David O. Russell and not one, not two, but four Best Actor/Actress nominations. It is one of the best films of the year staring Mark Wahlberg (Nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama) and Christian Bale (Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Drama) as brothers Mickey Ward and Dicky Eklund who embark together on a boxing journey to become "The Pride of Lowell", Massachusetts. The film begins with the two brother's being interviewed in 1993 and flashing back to tell the story. Before his crack addiction, Dicky was known for knocking out boxing legend Sugar Ray in his hay day. He has always looked out for his younger brother Mickey and has trained him to be a boxer as well. However, Mickey is on a losing streak and is down on his luck. He has a large family that is part of the boxing business. His mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo, Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Drama), is Mickey's manager while his father George Ward (Jack McGee) tries to help him get a better manager and make him some more money. Mickey's luck is turned around when he starts dating a bartender named Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Drama) dragging her into the family business. Everything comes together as the fight for kinship begins as Mickey, Dicky, Alice, Jack and Charlene work to restore the family name and celebrate in Mickey's Corner.
"The Fighter" is all about the acting performances of the best ensemble cast of the year. Wahlberg, Bale, Leo, and Adams are raiding all of the spots for the acting nominations at every awards show. The four cast members mentioned along with Jack McGee have been nominated as a whole for two best ensemble cast awards and have won one already. With this being said the best part of the movie is Christian Bale's portrayal of Dicky Ecklund. He lost a ridiculous amount of weight for the role for the second time in his acting career ("The Machinist", 2004) weighing the least he has in years at 121 pounds. Bale has always been an amazing actor being able to break away from his strong English accent to play American characters with a flawless American accent. He is completely different than you have ever seen him before and hands down is going to pick up numerous awards this awards season including the Oscar. All of these performances create the originality of the film from a well- known plot line.
The story starts out very slow taking 30 or 40 minutes to kick into full swing. The screenplay is very well written and performed, however, the film is still very predictable. The plot has been used over and over again must memorably in the "Rocky" franchise. The film is very straightforward and does not have any surprises along the way, but in the end does this really matter?
"The Fighter" is a very enjoyable movie that is easy to enjoy. Lead by the best acting of the year the film has set the standard for ensemble casts of the future by telling a real life "Rocky" story that you need to see now!