The FIGHTER

“The FIGHTER” (Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams & Melissa Leo)

Once every few years (or so) an actor comes up with a performance that transcends your ‘normal’ great performances – When the screen went blank at the end of ‘The Fighter’, I asked my wife, “Do you thin we just watched an Oscar winning performance?” & her answer was, “I thought Amy was good.” - which brought me back to realizing that no one else seems to view films the same way I do. The regular commentators on this blog are much better-rounded than I am in what they look for in a film – they’ll make comments on the cinematography and the lighting of scenes – even the director matters more to them than it does to me. I can’t see the director, so why do I care who he is?
My biggest criteria are acting & story; and what blows me away is when an actor ‘becomes’ his character and yes, the further that character is from the actor’s natural persona (& voice) the more impressive it is to me. Early on in ‘The Fighter’, Christian Bale, as ex-boxer Dicky Ecklund, is seen walking the streets with his younger half-brother, Micky Ward (Wahlberg) It is clear that Dicky isn’t ‘right in the head’ as he does most of the talking and he doesn’t articulate one single intelligent thought. My wife
whispered to me, “What’s wrong with him?” I replied, “he’s Australian.”
I said that because I wanted to remind her that the man playing Dicky, the All-American crack addicted braggart speaks with a very thick Australian accent in real life.
When the film ended and she guessed that Amy gave the Oscar winning performance, I told her Amy was good – a supporting actress contender – but she spoke in Amy Adams’ voice – Wahlberg spoke in Mark’s regular voice – Christian not only became that unreliable crack head loser Dicky, he did so while using a voice that wasn’t anywhere near the way he normally spoke – that’s impressive. I heard that Christian’s performance in ‘The Fighter’ SHOULD garner him his first Oscar nomination – those people are wrong – it SHOULD net him his first OSCAR. I cannot heap enough praise upon Bale – rarely does an actor WOW me the way he did as Dicky Ecklund. An incredible acting feat from an actor that seemed to me to give up a promising career to go ‘franchise’.
When my wife remembered that Bale was also ‘Batman’, she commented, “That guy sure didn’t look like ‘Batman’.” Didn’t look, act or talk like Batman or Christian Bale... well, except for the temper tantrums.
So, what about the film? It’s good. The entire cast elevates the material (I actually thought Melissa Leo was more impressive than Adams as well) & Wahlberg fit because his character was the easiest to play from an acting standpoint (Don’t get on my case for not realizing how much work it took to get into fighting shape)
Another ‘based’ on a true story, “The Fighter” tells the tale of a family that brings a bad name to the phrase ‘trailer trash’. Micky Ward is trained by his drug addicted brother, Dicky and managed by his chain smoking, tough talking, Dicky-loving mother, Alice (Leo) And always lurking in the background are Micky & Dicky’s seven ‘lovely’ sisters... I’d like to know where they found these 7 broads – I’m guessing there was a trailer trash sale at ‘Skanks ‘R’ Us’.
Micky is the only member of the clan that has a chance to make it out of the ‘slum’ Alice has raised them in & seems very content to keep ‘the family’ together.
When bartender Charlene (Amy Adams) comes into Micky’s life he begins to yearn for a better life. Charlene pushes him into dumping his brother and mother as trainer and manager and hired ‘legit’ professionals.
This sets up a good vrs. evil scenario; on the good side, Charlene, Micky’s father George, who runs like a scared bunny every time his wife loses her temper (Which is frequently) and police officer Mickey O’Keefe – a good friend that helps Micky W. with his training.
On the bad side – everyone else in Micky’s family; Mom, Dicky & the Seven Deadly Sisters.
Still Micky is in conflict over dumping his family and thus threatens to break up the good thing he has with Charlene and his new associates.
This movie isn’t pleasant to watch (unless like me, you become completely enthralled by Christian Bale’s performance) it is gritty and hard-core (language-wise, there’s no nudity, damn it!) These are the type of people that if you were in a bar and they walked in, you’d get up & leave immediately because you know something distasteful is bound to happen with this group of sleaze-bags.
It doesn’t give you anything new as far as boxing stories are concerned - it is the relationship between Alice and her two sons that propel this film. And trust me, you’ll WANT to forget that you ever meet Alice & Dicky but I doubt that you’ll be able to do so.