Superb acting

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2012)

The Fighter is a biographic movie about Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund and their quests. The plural because there are two intertwined stories, Ward's ambition to become a champion fighter and Eklund's fight to end his addiction and find his feet. Ward's boxing career is the center of it all, with its several bumps and turns along the way.
The story is intriguing, but never really caught me until late in the movie. Perhaps because there were too much focus on the bumps in the beginning, almost exclusively, so the story didn't get any flow until later on. Perhaps it is because the stellar acting, foremost by Bale as Dickey, that made this rather tragic and unnerving story too real.
The real entertainment is the acting. Mark Wahlberg is good, real good, but it is Bale that steals the show completely and he got an Oscar for it. Melissa Leo also got one for her character Alice, Micky's mother, and they're supported by Amy Adams and Jack McGee among others.
All in all a good movie with a good albeit unsurprising ending.
7/10