Directed by David O. Russell. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo.
83rd Oscars - 7 Nominations: Best Picture, Directing, Editing, Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo), Writing (Original Screenplay).
The Fighter plays on two consistently good genres: the "based on a true story" biopic and the underdog sports story. It tells the of the life of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, his family (including his manager mother and crack-addicted trainer brother), and his first big successes in the sport. I found it to be highly entertaining -- indeed, by the end, it was riveting. What makes it work to the degree that it does are the eccentric natures of the supporting characters, the stoicism of the protagonist, and the energy coursing throughout the final boxing matches.
Honestly, I had written off this film in the "I don't do boxing movies" category. I don't like watching this kind of violence on film... I can watch swords and guns ad infinitum, but people punching the crap out of each other gets hard to watch for me very quickly. So, for the same reason that I haven't (and probably won't) see Million Dollar Baby and that I didn't want to see Fight Club (though I have in fact seen it twice), I was prepared to give this one a pass. Still, the looming SEVEN Oscar nominations changed my mind and I decided that I couldn't miss it. In the end, I was sucked into the drama of Micky's boxing matches.
It's rare to see a film where the main character plays a fairly small role. Don't get me wrong, Mark Wahlberg's performance was solid... it just wasn't spectacular. What really stood out to me was Christian Bale (Micky's brother) and Amy Adams (his girlfriend). Many others seem to find Melissa Leo (his mother) impressive as well, and she seems likely to win the Supporting Actress Oscar. I'm not sure that I found her performance to all THAT amazing, or that I would call it the best of the year, but she certainly did command the stage, so to speak, when she was onscreen.
Christian Bale falls into the category of how-the-heck-has-he-never-been-nominated-for-an-Oscar and it seems this is finally HIS year. He's really quite amazing in this role. Physically, he's managed to transform into the skeletal appearance of a truly drug-addicted individual. His face is gaunt, he seems like a gust of wind could blow him over, yet there he is training Micky. What makes him interesting is the way he subtly portrays being haunted by the great boxer he never became. I mean, he seems to mean well in terms of coaching Micky, even his destructive behavior does land him in jail, but you can tell that he would rather be the one in the ring than someone standing on the sidelines. Emotionally, he's a firecracker. Significantly, he did seem true to the spirit of the real-life Dicky (there's a brief clip of the real Micky and Dicky over the credit scroll).
This film has something interesting to say about success... that behind every "great man" and "great win," there is a team of support, a story, a fleet of family and friends. This is an important message. In our society, I think, we place too much emphasis on individualism. This film makes an important argument against this tendency and it seems clear that Micky's win equally belongs to every other character in the film.
Overall, The Fighter falls into that rare category of truly being both an audience-pleaser and an award-winner. It seems likely that it will win at least two Oscars (for the Supporting Acting categories -- Bale and Leo) -- these actors have already won Golden Globes. It managed to please the critics in that regard. Yet, it also packed the theater I was in even near the end of its run, and kept everyone laughing and cheering until the end. This did not just get a Best Picture nomination because the Academy was trying to appeal to more people under the new 10 Best Picture model -- I bet it would have stood a fair chance at a nomination even if there had still only be 5 slots. This is a film I was not expecting to like, but that I would now heartily recommend.
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