Powerful indeed

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2009)

The Wrestler works. It is first and foremost a straight-out tale of a man who has seen his glory days, and in powerful performances from the Rourke and Tomei we really do get two of the most satisfying performances of the year.
Shot in a gritty realistic way, it plays on the Eighties with its dreams of economic forevers versus the cold reality of 2008, on fame, fortune, and even Lady Luck. Here, we have a man who did one thing really well, and just kept on going way past his sell-by date - yet he is heroic for it.
What is impressive is that the characters have real lives and real depth - when Rourke is kind to kids or living it up or losing his cool in his other job it looks and feels immensely right. This is beyond method acting - it really is deeply if strangely honest. I totally bought the film, and Rourke can wrestle for real, and Tomei's dancer is just brilliant in her desperation and self-awareness - heartbreaking.
The myth of Rourke himself is a strange one but you can't watch this and separate out the two. He has, despite what the myths would have us believe, never stopped working. He has made a film or two every year since the 80s but they generally were barely passable.
He certainly takes the prize for the films he rejected. This from Wikipedia: "He is alleged to have turned down a number of high-profile acting roles, including Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Tom Cruise's role in Rain Man, Nick Nolte's part in 48 Hrs., Christopher Lambert's part in Highlander and a part in Platoon. In a documentary on the special edition DVD of Tombstone, actor Michael Biehn, who plays the part of Johnny Ringo, mentions that his role was first offered to Rourke."
Here, he, Marisa Tomei, and Aaron Aronofsky are triumphant.
It is kind of a hymn to blue collar values, and strangely enough it's also about how we stand by our values - even if it costs us a lot - whatever we have decided those values might be.
Easily watchable - if full-on in the wrestling scenes - it lingered with us for days after and we found ourselves talking about it a lot.
Mesmerizing and very good, definitely Awards-time good performances and production, this is 100% Rourke's best performance ever.
This parable of modern America is powerful and carries a real punch - go see!