Empty Haymaker

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2011)

Fights themselves (boxing, mma, whatever) are hit and miss, to shamelessly indulge in the pun...a gamble, whether you're paying for ringside seats or tossing out a few bills for the pay-per-view. Some almost seem to be magically choreographed, resulting in spectacular action.....brutal, violent poetry-in-motion that is talked about for years afterwards. Others are spectacular duds, regardless of the supposed talent dancing in the ring...listless and impotent...forgotten or laughed at, depending on the level of failure (hungry Mikey? :) Movies are like that, we all know...boxing movies especially. Let's compare a couple big ones of late. Take Cinderella Man with Russel Crowe in '05 and then last year's The Fighter with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. Big talent in both, yes? Heavy-weights to be sure. Both these movies had all the pre-release ingredients of a title fight...yet only one of them was actually worth the price of admission, from my own minuscule perspective (both are equally and pervasively well-liked by IMDb's viewers, amazingly enough....both commanding 8.0/10 with over 60,000 votes apiece).
Cinderella Man seemed to moved with liquid grace throughout the film. Everything one might cherish about a Dicken's novel was clearly conveyed...with heartfelt characters struggling to survive in impossible circumstances...characters who make that rare transformation from "everyman" to "hero" in some ever-accelerating juxtaposition of destiny that offers its feeling of crescendo...of portent...to every step, every blow in the ring (the fight scenes themselves were exquisitely orchestrated, BTW) and every dramatic circumstance beyond the ring. Simply put, its a beautiful story...even in the context of the motif of two men beating the hell out of each other in front of crowds of people. I, too, was "ringside" and I felt truly involved...emotionally invested...in the fate of the characters in the story. And when everything was on the line toward the end, I felt the feeling of risk as well...nerves taught and pupils dilated...on edge...transported. Being magically transported...I've said, it before...that is the mark of a good movie. Cinderella Man transported me, effortlessly right through to the credits.
Now take The Fighter. All the grace evident in CM is nowhere to be found in this film. And I mean nowhere. Our boxing hero "Irish" Micky Ward is honorable only in comparison to his degenerate family, his mother and sisters (my god, how many?) a brood of greasy harpies who could only stoop lower by resorting to actual cannibalism. To see behavior like this outside the remote hills of Appalachia is downright scary, IMHO. His half-brother, Dicky, is equally degenerate without harboring the same predatorial spark his sisters engender. He's simply an addict using his crack induced euphoria to fuel delusions of grandeur about the good ole days of his long gone fighting career. Ultimately there's no sense of a hero's heart in Micky though, even in spite of his family. He chooses to indulge them throughout...even at the behest of his new-found "Ariadne" (Amy Adams' playing Micky's girlfriend, Charlene) sent in to attempt to lead our hero out of the dark maze of his ill-fated life. Not much help here, unfortunately...she simply doesn't have the drive or the intelligence to provide escape velocity for our dopey, earth-bound fighter. Simply put, this movie lacks heart. There's plenty of muscle and movement, but the overriding stupidity and squalor leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. The only saving grace, from a technical perspective, was the impressive, jaw-dropping transformation that Bale pulled off to become Dicky...as impressive as his unbelievable transformation in The Machinist and Charlize Theron's in Monster. He was every ounce the manic addict, sweaty and unflinchingly irresponsible at every opportunity. Nice job Bale. But that's about it for Fighter. No help from the fight scenes, themselves, either. They were poorly executed and unconvincing, offering no respite from my growing disappointment and smoldering repulsion.
This one is punch drunk, folks: only peripherally funny but moreover primally offensive to watch.