No Holds Barred

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2009)

If you're familiar with Darren Aronofsky, you know that he makes balls-out, no-holds-barred films, from the outrageous "Pi" to the gut-wrenching "Requiem For A Dream" to the epic scope and profound power of "The Fountain", so it's no surprise that his fourth feature film, "The Wrestler", follows in this unflinching tradition.
And if you, like me, enjoy his kind of film-making, you will certainly appreciate this incredibly intense character study. It's the story of Randy (ne Robin) "The Ram" Robinson , a hugely successful professional wrestler who is well past his prime but still hanging on to the only life he's ever known ~ the glory of what happens in The Ring.
Mickey Rourke is our Randy, and he's the perfect choice, the only choice. Let's face it, the film wouldn't have really worked with, say, Stallone or Pacino or Steve Buscemi in the role. Rourke has been a boxer, in the '90s, he's lived this sort of life (and has even talked about trying professional wrestling in the future  with Rourke, it could very well happen). He knows this character from the inside, and every bit of that hard-earned knowledge explodes onto the screen.
The film lives or dies on the basis of the believability of this performance, and I'm here to tell you he is so credible that you might sometimes forget you're watching an actor, he's buried so deep within the soul of the character. Whether we see him with his grungy dirty blond hair in a restrained bun, trying to live a 'normal' existence - trying to reconcile his broken relationship with his daughter Stephanie (another completely believable performance from the great Evan Rachel Wood), trying to forge some sort of meaningful bond with stripper Marisa Tomei (in a deeply heartfelt  and sexy- performance), trying to fit into a new gig behind the deli counter of a super market  or with his hair down, getting pounded to a pulp in the ring, we feel it. We feel his regret, his frustration, his hopefulness, his pain, we live it with him; this is a genuine tour de force for Rourke, and I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up from behind and takes Best Actor on 2/22/09.