The Wrestler movie review

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2011)

A film where the very concept of self destruction itself reaches its own form of perfection, for both its lead character Randy (Rourke) and the path he follows tirelessly. Director Darren Aronofsky revives Mickey's career with a story beyond the bruises and challenges of the wrestling ring, focusing on a character that was once on top, and is now in the lowest possible point of his life, while trying to fit into society, making rent, and even taking whatever chance he gets to be on top. Mickey Rourke gives his greatest performance yet playing a character that in a manner of speaking represents his own persona. Randy the Ram Robinson, or Ram Jam to many fans, was big hit in the 80's, wowing wrestling fans all across America, only to fall after 2 decades of really pushing it to the extreme. Now he is alone, poor, struggling to make his rent, wrestling for small time firms, and working a deli counter under the supervision of a prickly manager (Barry). The only form of social warmth he gets is from his old wrestling buds, and compassionate, but undesirable table dancer named Pam, or most often going with her stage name Cassidy (Tomei). Randy doesn't have any complaints, yet he suffering hard and slow, and not just by the many drugs he mixes into his regiment, but furthermore the sight of his own life slipping away from him. After nearly suffering a heart attack, like any rational guy, it gets him thinking about life and how he should be living it, when clearly he has hasn't been living it to the best. In that path to a better life, Randy quits wrestling, and tries to slowly rebuild his life by fixing a relationship with the only true family he has, His daughter Stephanie (Wood) shows no desire to rekindle with Daddy, after feeling the cold resentment of abandonment, and thinking their chances of a good father daughter relationship are finished. It's only with a twist if faith that Ram is able to get close enough to have a chance. All it took was a little bit of long quiet pier walk, a dance, and innocent dinner date. Randy's hopes go to Hell when he tries his moves on Pam, thinking their friendship is beyond being friends, only to be rejected ,and once again alone.The quick snort of some blow and a little late night strange screw up his chances of fixing things, when all he had going for him was a chance of a better life. Stephanies hopes go down the drain too, when Ram misses their dinner date, ending the relationship for good. Believe her, when she said done, she meant, nothing, no chance of their relationship going anywhere. When it came to being a Wrestler Randy is the king, it's his thing, and when it came to trying to be normal, he was in the words of his own daughter, a living breathing F-up. I don't blame her, and neither did Randy, as he returned back to the very place he lives and breathes best, the ring. When taking a chance at being back on top, Randy faces an old wrestler, The Ayahtollah. In the match Pam tries what she can to stop Randy, only for Ram to settle the fact that it's who he is. The ring is his home, and the audience is his family, the very people who really tell him when he's done. Randy's fate, whether it would be alive or dead, at the very conclusion of his signature move, the film comes to a close as he leap onto his destiny. "The Wrestler can only be seen as a perfect movie, when combining the drama of Aronofsky's character Randy, the very solid and sometimes moving performances of the 3 leads, Rourke, Tomei, and Wood. The movie itself goes beyond redemption and change, but simple acceptance of one character. Randy tried and failed miserably, to fit in society, only to later realize just how better off he is in the world of wrestling, like so many other of the steroid loving lug heads like Necro Butcher, Rob Eckos, and Nick Berk (as shown in the film). "The Wrestler" is a triumph of Aronofsky's talent to turn a brutal and somewhat fake, show motivated sport like wrestling into a matter of one man's sense of entitlement.