A knockout of a film

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2011)

The Fighter is a brilliant film, and for me one of the best movies of 2010 along with The King's Speech, The Social Network and Toy Story 3. The editing and cinematography are top-drawer especially as are the compellingly atmospheric score, the brilliant direction which seamlessly blends gritty realism and the theme of fighting-against-the-odds as seen in the finale and the script which has a lot of class and heart with the odd peppering of humour and good humour at that.
What made The Fighter were the boxing fight sequences and the acting. The fight sequences are very kinetic, energetic and very exciting. And thanks to the quality of the direction and script, not to mention the acting, the characters are very credible and genuine. The acting is brilliant. Mark Wahlberg gives his best performance so far and provides the heart of the film, while Amy Adams is completely different from her Enchanted persona being more crude and less infectious in a cute way. But the best performances come from Christian Bale, who is just astonishing, and Melissa Leo who is equally a revelation.
In conclusion, a knockout of a film and one of the year's best. 10/10 Bethany Cox