The Fighter

9.1/10 Dropps

Genre: Drama
Rated: R
Running Time: 1 hr. 54 min.
In Theaters: Dec 10, 2010 Limited
Box Office:$0.3M
Directed By: David O. Russell

December means the end of the year and the last chance for filmmakers to leave their mark on 2010. With Golden Globe announcements already being made and Oscar nominations just around the corner, December usually means the release of some of the year’s strongest films. This is certainly the case in 2010 with Black Swan, True Grit and The Fighter finding their way into theaters before the new year.

The Fighter follows “Irish” Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a struggling young welterweight boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts, through a series of grueling trials and tribulations involving his family, trainer and girlfriend. After a drug-induced mishap, Mickey finds himself without the support of his longtime trainer and half-brother, Dickey Eklund (Christian Bale), an event that sparks a turn in his personal and professional career in the ring.

A lot of hype has been building around The Fighter for several reasons, a few of which have landed this boxing biopic at the top of several “end of the year” lists. The film tells the harrowing true story of Mickey Ward, portrayed in an understated performance by Mark Wahlberg. The movie’s strongest performance comes from Bale, in his brilliant portrayal of Eklund. Bale’s vision of Dickey, the crack-addicted, loudmouthed ex-boxer, snatches the spotlight each time he appears on screen, stealing the show from Walhberg and Mickey Ward at times, but always enhancing the film.

Behind the camera, David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) delivers a very stripped-down, natural vision. Unlike its major box office competitors Black Swan and True Grit, The Fighter lacks in overwhelming aesthetic appeal – but what it lacks it beauty it makes up for in grit and raw emotion. Much like The Wrestler in 2008, The Fighter is a straightforward, true-to-nature story of a man faced with tough decision and no easy solution. A movie painfully real in its depiction of a family torn apart, The Fighter delivers in a way where many movies miss the mark; it boasts a dedicated cast, no forced dialogue, and believable, loveable characters.

While this movie about a boxer feels more like a movie about a boxer’s crack-addicted brother at times, The Fighter continues a longstanding, solid run of boxing films. Wahlberg gives an impressive, if not understated and overshadowed performance, Bale, who lost an unnatural amount of weight once again for his portrayal of Dickey Eklund, gives a tour-de-force performance in his supporting role, and Russell works effortless magic behind the lens. Together they deliver one of 2010’s best films.

-Hunter Freigburg