MOVIE REVIEW: The Fighter (2010)

Ah, the "boxing movie", such a tired subgenre in the annals of sports films. From Rocky to Cinderella Man and countless other iterations that continue to popularize the genre, it's sad to say, but we've seen it all before - lowlife who depends only on his athletic talent, needs to win the girl, has a drug addiction, family hates him, blah, blah, blah. The boxing genre is probably about as formulaic as the romantic comedy, when it comes to thematic elements. Then comes The Fighter, and despite seven Oscar nominations (at the time of this writing) and strong buzz about the performances of Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, the title and sight of boxing gloves automatically set my expectations low. However, The Fighter surprisingly does a little something different, and dare I say - break the mold by being a boxing movie that's not even really about boxing.

Based on a true story, set in 1990s Lowell, Mass. Mickey Ward is an up-and-coming boxer who trains with his aloof, crackheaded brother Dickie, and is managed by his overconfidant, high-strung mother Alice. After losing a long-shot match to a guy 20-pounds heavier than him, Mickey begins considering taking his career's matters into his own hands and away from his family. With the help of his girlfriend and stepfather, his career shows promise. But his family has enough problems of their own - Dickie is forced to confront his drug addiction and jail-time, and his mother is forced to confront the rationality of her own son's athletic abilities. This is where I defend my stance on The Fighter being a "lesser" boxing movie - the last quarter is dominated almost entirely by boxing, complete with the end fight-hanging-on-a-limb-but-wins cliche. However, the fights feature some great editing, and the cinematography impeccably duplicates the style of intense, oversaturated '90s pay-per-view live broadcast. The majority of the movie is rather a fine character study, a family drama, and even a pseudo coming-of-age adult tale.

Now here's what will become my global concern for the film - for all the work done towards the aesthetics and story for the film, I felt that Wahlberg and Bale had the lion's share of characterization, in terms of the screenplay. This makes me wonder if the Academy is playing politics again with Best Supporting Actress front-runner Melissa Leo, and Amy Adams. Leo's main competition - True Grit's Hailee Stanfield, is in my opinion, a decent actress with a well-written role. On the other hand, I felt that Leo's character wasn't very well-written, and basically played a Massachussetts-Housewife-From-New-Jersey (I swear, if it weren't for the accents, all the women in this movie could have been straight-up "Jersey Girl" stereotypes) whose main purpose was to yell, curse, scream, and give Wahlberg's character some conflict. Leo as an actress, is however, her character's saving grace - she brings great nuance and authenticity to a role that I feel is otherwise beneath her ability. The competition is a bit puzzling, given either of the "big-candidate" actresses have qualities in their characters that the other does not. The same problem with Leo goes for Adams, who was great in Doubt and Julie & Julia, but here...well...she's basically playing a "b*tch"...albeit one with a strong moral compass. Why Adams has an Oscar nomination for her role is beyond me; politics at it's best, I presume, but she's a great actress and does her role more than enough justice.

For it's few faults, The Fighter still manages to be a worthy adversary among this year's Best Picture nominees. The acting is great, Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg included, who didn't receive my initial kudos, but appear here in top form. The directing is fantastic, and the editing serves the film for both the dramatic and action scenes. There may be a glut of boxing movies in America, and they probably won't go away anytime soon, but at least The Fighter manages to be something different, refreshing, and intriguing.

8/10

Peace,
- Jon