The Fighter (2010)

My criteria for what makes a film great is that I should connect with it on an emotional level and I should not be done with the movie by the time I get home from the theatre. By those two standards, David O. Russell’s THE FIGHTER qualifies as a great film. I’ve spent a lot of time reading the reviews – most of them make their boxing pun jokes (like saying it’s not a “knockout”) and focus on whether or not THE FIGHTER measures up to “Raging Bull” and “Rocky” as boxing films. Those critics looking at this film through that lens are rating it as an average movie.

But THE FIGHTER is far better than average and worthy of more than to be compared to “Raging Bull” and “Rocky.” Instead, it is one of the most deeply-affecting films about disappointment I can ever remember seeing. In addition, it’s a film about the power and pull of family, even in the face of unjustifiable allegiance. After THE FIGHTER is these two things, then it is a boxing movie.

Based on a true story, THE FIGHTER tells the story of Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a boxer from working-class Lowell, Massachusetts. Micky is the younger half-brother of Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), himself a former boxer and local folk hero. Known as “The Pride of Lowell,” Dicky is famous—at least in his own mind—for having knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in a boxing match. The details of how that all went down are sketchy to those beyond the ear of Dicky, who constantly relives the moment and uses it as fuel for a planned comeback. But in the meantime, Dicky helps to train his little brother for his own matches.

Unfortunately, Dicky is now more commonly known for his severe addiction to crack, a habit that has eaten away at his teeth and frame and causes him to show up hours late for Micky’s workouts. Still, he remains the golden child to their mother Alice (Melissa Leo), who manages Micky’s boxing career while overseen by her seven daughters who sit across couches in the family living room, hair sprayed into mall bangs, the white trash version of the Greek Furies.

Micky begins dating Charlene (Amy Adams), a barmaid in town, and she takes it upon herself to get it through to him that his family is bringing Micky’s career down. Their training is not helping him develop. Dicky is unreliable and more focused on himself. And Alice has continually walked him into uneven matchups, the losses not seeming to bother her as much as they do Micky.

Eventually, Micky agrees to take on new training and management, with the stipulation that his mother and brother not be involved. He is hesitant – blindly devoted to his family. But he gets it, and his career takes off, even as the focus of the family shifts to Dicky’s incarceration and the family’s complaints of betrayal.

Some reviews have said that Mark Wahlberg is not commanding enough in the film—that he is supposed to be the center that holds it all together but does not. I think those critics are missing the point completely. While I do believe that Walberg is essentially playing a version of himself (a working class Boston kid clawing to make something out of his life), I also believe he is pitch perfect in his stillness and quiet delivery. Quite frankly, Micky is surrounded by talkers, chief among them the brother that he adores and the mother he can’t bear to betray. Those two talk unless there is a crack pipe or cigarette in their mouths, respectively. And Wahlberg accurately conveys a sense of “when’s it gonna be my turn?” without generating a false level of energy to eclipse his un-eclipsable family members.

It’s no surprise, then, that Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, by nature, get the flashy roles in THE FIGHTER. But don’t be fooled; both actors give astonishing and career-defining performances. In a film where the acting is so jaw-droppingly memorable across the board, Bale in particular is revelatory. Casual fans of Bale (such as those who only follow his on-screen career as Batman) might not realize that his shocking weight loss for this film is his second go-round at such a Method technique, following his even more emaciated look in 2004’s “The Machinist.” But that is only the surface of the brilliance of what I am confident will be an award magnet of a performance for him. His Dicky is paradoxically sickly and athletic, as physically jittery as it is verbally, and Bale is spot-on as a Bostonian motormouth. Believe me when I say that I’m not doing his performance justice here; you need to see it for yourself.

Equally unbelievable in her own way is Melissa Leo, a virtual unknown when she was nominated for the lead actress Oscar last year for “Frozen River,” a fantastic but largely unseen indie film. If Leo keeps turning out performances like this, her days of relative obscurity are numbered. Leo’s work as Alice is riveting: a chain-smoking, bouffant-coiffed keeper of family delusions poured into pencil-thin, tight jeans. She is a hot mess of a woman lording over a hot mess of a family, and Leo is so convincing in playing her that a line in the film where Alice complains to Micky about his girlfriend disrespecting her almost elicits a laugh. How would one respect her?

I don’t want my review to go on forever, so I’ll keep it short in adding that Amy Adams, who I put at the top of my list of favorites after her work in “Doubt,” further flexes her versatility here as Micky’s girlfriend, Charlene. Unlike the useless white trash sisters of Dicky and Micky, she’s tough but smart, and Adams gives another fantastic performance. She’s an actress with the soft beauty of a rom-com leading lady with range of a character actor.

Director David O. Russell was not originally slated to direct THE FIGHTER, and hadn’t made a feature film since 2004’s “I Heart Huckabees” (also with Walhlberg). And while I haven’t seen all of his films, I am a big fan of “Three Kings” and this film clearly lacks the frantic storytelling of that film; this is more grounded. But Russell manages his way through some of the expected boxing film conventions, such as the buildup to the big match at the end of the film and the tight, in-the-ring camera work, and transcends these clichés with his focus on the streets and people of Lowell. While the job might have started as a director-for-hire project, it might have paid off as Russell’s coming out party as a formidable mainstream feature director who can maintain artistic credibility.

As I mentioned before, the best thing about THE FIGHTER is the emotion it invokes. Like I said, this is a film about the weight of disappointment. Dicky is a disappointment to himself and to his family and tries to transfer the dreams of success he carries onto his brother. Micky loves his family but they are toxic; THE FIGHTER forces audiences to consider the dilemma of having to choose between one’s own goals and the pull of family. I am fully aware that this is not a topic that’s never been done before. But it’s done quite skillfully here – so much so that the questions are raised anew. Do you succeed for just yourself? For others? Do you give up on your dream because maybe it was more someone else’s dream than your own? How do you make something out of your life when the family you love so much is also the cause of such profound embarrassment?

In the end, Micky is fighting against more than just his boxing opponents and his waning shot at success. He’s fighting against himself in archetypal sense of self-conflict. And this film, as a result, wins.

4.0 out of 4