The Rourke Show

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2009)

This film is the perfect document of the strange sport/theatric hybrid known as professional wrestling. Aronofsky's brutal exploration of the cultural phenomenon is his most mature work thus far. He's good at telling these stories of things going from bad to worse, but with this he's dropped his style-heavy inclinations and focuses in tight on the performances. I've heard Nicolas Cage and Stallone were considered for this role and I can't even imagine it. This is Rourke's movie. He owns it completely and is Randy "The Ram" Robinson, and that invisible line between actor and character just makes everything all the more painful to watch. I would not even be surprised to learn that Rourke really did take all those staples. The nasty violence actually gave me a bit of headache; that's how effective this movie can be. People with heart conditions beware.