Inspirational and emotional boxing story

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2011)

"The Fighter" works, because it is the story of redemption—for both Mickey and Dickie. The film isn't really much about boxing, yet about Mickey's family problems and personal issues.
It is really Bale and Wahlberg's touching screen partnership that brings home The Fighter. And this is balancing of styles and directing brilliance on Russell's part. Bale is raw powerful extremes. Wahlberg is unwavering and rock steady. The Fighter makes you cheer for both. Everyone deserves a second chance, and the chance to be great.
The Fighter is less about boxing than this familial conflict, which offers two equally absorbing stories in its first hour. There's Dicky's delusional, drug-induced dream of becoming the "Pride of Lowell" again and not as a sarcastic punchline, and then there's the dual nature of Mickey, who's a noted brawler in the ring but can't stand up for his own career or say anything slightly critical of anyone in his family for fear of letting them down.
Dicky has a documentary film crew following him everywhere, as folks come out of shops on the main street of their declining neighbourhood in the Massachusetts city to wish him well, cheer him on, and, probably most importantly, get on camera. Dicky once held his own with Sugar Ray Leonard (who appears in a cameo as a fight commentator). His claim to fame is that during that fight, Dicky knocked Leonard down, although there are the realists who point out that the champ tripped. Director David O. Russell throws in the footage for us to judge. From his fighting style and a coda at the end featuring the real brothers, one can garner Dicky's brash personality, which Bale captures in a transformative performance, heavy on fast-talking lies or covers but broken by addiction. Overall, the Fighter is a very great film and I'd recommend it to