"Bale & Leo are flawless, arguably the finest we've seen them!"

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2011)

Based on the True story of "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), the Massachusetts born professional boxer.
David O. Russell's "The Fighter" follows the story of a young man who grew up adoring his older half brother Dicky (Christian Bale) the hyperactive drug addicted professional boxer who once knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in '78. To say Micky has a dysfunctional family would be an enormous understatement, with an overhaul of nicotine addicted controlling females led by the mother of the family, Alice (Melissa Leo) who believes she is managing his career but is blindly a burden on his professional & social life.
Micky encounters a heavily mismatched opponent organised by his family which was intended to be a morale boost leaves the hero of the film battered & embarrassed of his loss. His Life begins to change for the better when he begins to date Charlene (Amy Adams) a local barmaid popular with the men, who slowly opens his eyes that the problem with his life has been the influence of his family.
After a potentially career ending incident involving his brother/mentor Dicky, our central character with the forceful help of Charlene avoids his family and begins to train seriously with a fresh team of supporting staff; his father (Jack McGee), long-time trainer played by the real life Mickey O'Keefe & a new manager Sal (Frank Renzulli).
An extremely well re-created documentary of the original HBO feature titled "High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell" follows Dicky's long-time drug addiction to crack cocaine takes place during the film and is moving to watch.
There's an enormous amount of pressure on any Boxing based drama in cinema. With legendary classics Rocky (1975), Raging Bull (1980) or more recently Million Dollar Baby (2004), The Wrestler (2008) any film of this genre is going to be viewed with this comparison. The Fighter does extremely well to live up to it's predecessors on the screen.
Bale & Leo are flawless, arguably the finest we've seen them! Ever since the commitment Bale made to The Machinist (2004) dropping an excruciating 63Lbs for the role and then gaining it all back within weeks for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins (2005) he confirmed to audiences that he is a true character actor and is dedicated to his art. Wahlberg is steady, "The Fighter" is an appropriate fit for his style of acting, recently he has made some poor career decisions he has admitted to himself; Max Payne (2008), The Happening (2008). At times he reminds his audience what he's capable of with quality performances such as I Heart Huckabees (2004), which was his 2nd collaboration with Director David O. Russell and most notably Scorsese's Best Picture Winner The Departed (2006) for which he earned his Academy Award Nomination.
In summary The Fighter has a lot to offer a wide variety of viewers and is well worth the line up & ticket price. 4 out of 5 Stars