A Wonderful Performance By Mickey Rourke

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2012)

His sense of identity fading into nothingness after the spotlights dim and he experiences a close brush with mortality, a retired wrestler begins to evaluate his life while considering the comeback that could very well kill him in director Darren Aronofsky's poignant portrait of an introspective former superstar in the twilight of his career in this movie entitled,The Wrestler.It was written by Robert D. Siegel and it features Mickey Rourke in the title role together with Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.
Back in his heyday, wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson was an icon in the ring. His image immortalized in action figures and video games, he would headline arenas across the globe. Twenty years later, those glory days have passed, and Randy is forced to earn his keep by brawling before handfuls of fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey. In the wake of a heart attack, the former icon attempts to earn a little extra cash while working in a deli and making an effort to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, Stephanie. Yet, despite Randy's continued attempts at convincing local stripper Cassidy to settle down with him in his humble trailer, the ring still calls to him. Later, when the prospect of a high-profile rematch with his longtime nemesis presents itself, Randy is forced to weigh his mortality against his desire to hear the crowd roar one last time.
It's a wonderful, career-reviving performance, and you can't imagine the movie without Mickey Rourke.Added to that,the movie presses too hard and too often, but the performances are strong enough to withstand the melodramatic impulses, and the themes of isolation and self- destructiveness are too sharply realized to be trivialized.And with with uncommon intelligence and brutal honesty, it examines the cost, and need, of battle which makes it a richly affecting, heart-wrenching yet ultimately rewarding drama.