The People's Hero

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 2012)

Mickey Rourke? Who's that? Within five minutes of watching The Wrestler you are no longer looking at Mickey Rourke. He is Randy "The Ram Robinson.
Spellbinding, mesmerising, captivating, awesome. All these half corny words are ground out for a performance like this but what it really is, is beautiful. Rourke has always had presence and he showed he still has it during his comeback as Marv in Sin City. As Randy the Ram however it is something else.
I'm going to be bold and say not since Viggo Mortensen became Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, not since Robert Di Niro became Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, and recently as Meryl Streep became Maggie Thatcher in The Iron Lady. This is where Rourke's performance stands, in the beyond great category (yes there are more but I am trying to be concise).
Randy the Ram is a past his prime wrestler, forced to do local gigs with minimal crowds. His boss (Todd Barry) belittles him for spraying himself with fake tan and rubbing his Lycra clad body against other men on weekends. He fruitlessly pursues a single mother, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) who works as a stripper where he drinks every night. It seems like his life is down and out but Randy opens up just a little for Cassidey to persuade him to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood).
It's through this almost reluctant attempt and reconnection that we see the real Randy. The man that put aside everything to become a wrestler because he felt that was the only place he was ever loved.
Darren Aronofsky's (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and recently Black Swan) direction is subtly brutal. He tiptoes around Randy's personal life as if we were on his shoulder and not supposed to be there. Yet it does not feel invasive despite the film's strong realism.
Randy does only ever have one place he loves. The same place he is worshipped. The ring. Everything else he does seems to go wrong, and some of the mistakes he makes we can see him as he's making them. The film is deeply tragic in that sense. But we root for Randy, and we side with him taking hold of the 'me against the world' mentality. At least I did.
What's fascinating is the world of wrestling and Rourke, aged 56 at the time of filming, is in phenomenal shape. He did a lot of the of the stunts and both of his trainers Jon Trosky and Tom Farra have parts in the film. All of the locker room scenes were improvised and this genuineness is great. The film takes us through the whole aspect of being a wrestler. The fake tanning, the shaving of body hair, the hair dye and the steroids and weight room. Like it or hate it you can still respect these guys as showmen and professional athletes and stunt-men.
A lot of professionals praised the film. Vince McMahon called it "deeply touching". Bret "The Hit-man" Hart, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Mick Foley both came out in praise for the film.
This film is a real film. There are no special effects, there are no gun battles or car chases, there are no cheeky blonde girls in bikini's (yes there is a strip club but it's not glamorous). There is just the camera, great locations, great directing, great script and beautiful acting.