Rourke's Finest Role

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2013)

A faded professional wrestler (Mickey Rourke) must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.
Alonso Duralde, of MSNBC, said, "Rourke's work transcends mere stunt-casting; his performance is a howl of pain that seems to come from a very real place." Todd McCarthy, of Variety, said, "Rourke creates a galvanizing, humorous, deeply moving portrait that instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances."
And that about sums it up. While Darren Aronofsky deserves much credit (he has yet to make a bad movie), this was Rourke's film from beginning to end. If the rumors are true that the studio wanted Nicolas Cage to play the lead, I am really glad that never happened. I love Cage, he has a lot of good acting in him when he chooses to use it... but Rourke owned this role.