Equally Entertaining As it is Heavy Hitting

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2010)

The Fighter: A David O Russell picture and entry into the boxing genre starring Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo.

The Fighter is based on the true story of boxer Mickey Ward, portrayed by Wahlberg, in 1990s Lowell, Massachusetts, and chronicles his gradual success to gaining the world light welterweight title with the coaching of his drug abusing brother Dicky, Christian Bale. On his path to pride and glory, Mickey faces conflicts that urge him to separate from the grasps of his managing and controlling family and earns extra backbone from his strong-minded girlfriend, Amy Adams. Granted, it doesn't sound exciting, but Russell's result here is one of the absolute best films of 2010. The Fighter, despite its many strengths, is undoubtedly a "performance film." Much of what makes it are the actors and what they put out on the screen, and the performances in The Fighter are all around excellent.
Christian Bale simply owns and walks away with the film, playing not a character, but becoming an individual. Bale is so engrossed in being Dicky Ecklund, capturing every essence of the damaged Bostonian crack addict, down to the mannerisms and daze. The performance is heartbreaking, goofily charming, and adept, with every emotion being conveyed powerfully and fully believable making for the best supporting performance of the year. Mark Wahlberg delivers the best performance of his career in this film as sympathetic and easy to cheer on Mickey and also the best movie quote I've heard in quite some time. Plus, with all of the research and preparation he went through to pinpoint Mickey, he's worth respecting. Amy Adams is most definitely a sure lock for best supporting actress and displays a very strong, tough, and amiable output as a character who should be grating, but never is. Another potential lock for best supporting actress is the always impressive Melissa Leo that has her hand on the likability switch as Mickey's mother and manager.
The Fighter is far from the standard sports melodrama. This is a film that has a fantastic ray of energy and exuberance throughout, with a hilariously delightful sense of humor that hits quick, the quirky Ecklund family, and a soundtrack selection that is lively and completely well chosen, with The Heavy's "How You Like Me Now" being the movie's anthem. The cinematography is jumpy and filmed mostly hand-held, an enticing style that places one right into the film.
The Fighter is a film that never delves into complete somberness, but rather serves a wonderful slice of life that is very raw and downplayed. It is a superb family drama on top of an effective boxing biopic. The boxing matches are filmed with the stylistic choice of having it look like an HBO special that truly works and feel very realistic. The boxing is overshadowed by the family elements, but the fights are some of the best moments of the film, taking the viewer through all the appropriate emotions. When Mickey wins a fight, you can't help yourself: You want to stand up and cheer.
The only major problem is in two aspects: The film does feel a bit long and the climactic ending match is nearly identical to an earlier fight in the film. That's about it. The Fighter is an incredible and dramatic picture that blends witty comedy with moving thematics and deep characters and puts a very welcome original twist on a familiar formula with a down to earth attitude, exemplary family dilemmas, a very skillful screenplay, and a sheer amount of entertainment that is difficult to gain from most other films of this genre.