A truly unique film

Rating: 9/10 (17 April 2013)

(Contains a HUGE spoiler!!!) In brief: Randy "The Ram" Robinson is a wrestler with his glory days behind him, and he is too old to continue. Outside of the ring, he spends his time at strip clubs, drinking and playing on an old Nintendo. He doesn't cope well with working at a supermarket, and clumsily tries to mend an broken relationship with his daughter. It all leads up to him getting one last chance in the ring, but can he take it?
If you love the kind of movies where the main character struggles with life, decides to change it and ends up living happily ever after as a result of some magical journey, do NOT watch this movie. Some people would say it ends well in a way, but the whole mood of the film signals that Randy's life has come to the point where things are going in a downward spiral. It is his complete dependence on the wrestling environment, his social clumsiness and his self-destructive ways in life that hinders him from turning the situation around, and yet still, Rourke delivers a performance that just makes it impossible for the viewer not to pity Randy as he eventually faces the grim truth: he won't be able to copy with living a normal life. The last scene implies that his heart starts to fail during a wrestling match, and he decides that instead of saving his life and quiting the match, he will go out with a bang. Great movies that appeal to people in this kind of way are way too rare these days.