The Oscars are just a few days away now so I thought I’d review one of the nominations for Best Picture. Overlooked by this year’s BAFTAs, this rank outsider isn’t expected to win the Oscar but shouldn’t be totally overlooked. The film in question? The Fighter.
There is a bit of a theme going in the Best Picture category, most of them feature characters who display huge amounts of determination to achieve their goal. Heck one of them is even called True Grit, and in fairness The Fighter could easily have gone with the title ‘True Grit’ because main character Micky Ward displays so much of it Britain want to start using him on the roads in Winter.
Based on a true story, The Fighter follows ‘Irish’ Micky Ward in his journey through his family struggles as he climbs the boxing ladder to the top. The movie starts with Micky, played by Mark Wahlberg, relatively low in the boxing rankings. Working as a road worker to get by, Micky is seen by many as a stepping stone in the boxing world. Just a guy someone fights to get wins and confidence under their belt.
Desperate to lose this tag, Micky continues in his training with his older brother Dicky Eklund, who is most famous for knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978. At the start of the movie we see Dicky being followed by a camera team, apparently filming a documentary on his comeback. As it turns out though there is no comeback that HBO care about. They’re making a documentary on crack-cocaine.
Yes, Dicky is a coke addict and is as unreliable as Northern Rail when it comes to being Micky’s trainer. More baggage for Micky as he fights his way to the top. Dicky is played by Christian Bale, who won the Golden Globe for his performance. His performance is excellent, as he portrays the sporadically ignorant Dicky. At the end of the movie, during the credits, a short interview is shown with the real Micky and Dicky, and the likeness of his mannerisms are just uncanny. Kudos to Bale, a favourite in the Best Supporting Actor award I’d say. No spoilers there, but there may be some ahead.
This flick’s not all about boxing though, it’s mainly about the relationship Micky has with his family. As one of the eight children in the family, Micky finds himself fighting for recognition from his mother (Melissa Leo) who happens to be his manager. Micky is a subdued character in comparison to his other siblings, especially Dicky who steals the limelight at any given opportunity. This just makes him more likable.
Down in the dumps and frustrated with his stepping stone tag and his unreliable trainer, Micky meets a young girl called Charlene in his local bar and they end up becoming an item. Charlene, played by the brilliant Amy Adams, gives Micky the confidence to not just be the best fighter he can be, but gives him the resolve to stand up for himself when it comes to his family.
But it all goes a bit pear-shaped as Dicky turns to crime in order to pay for his expensive habit and gets arrested. Whilst resisting arrest, his family, including Micky all run to see what all the commotion is about. Micky tries to get the police to stop beating on Dicky and as a result takes a nightstick to the hand. Not the best part of your anatomy to injure when you’re a boxer.
Micky is released, but Dicky is not, and whilst he’s stuck in prison Micky gets himself a new trainer in his mentor, Mickey O’Keefe, played by Mickey O’Keefe. Yep that’s right he plays himself, which is pretty impressive stuff, I have to say.
Micky finally starts to progress well with his new training team, winning fights he simply wasn’t meant to win. A few montages later and Micky is up against a hot shot Mexican fighter named Sanchez. He takes a beating in most of the rounds, before executing a trick taught to him by his brother Dicky, leaving Sanchez down and out on the mat. Celebration and shock preside afterwards and it gets revealed that Sanchez was a win away from a title shot. So that shot defers to Micky.
All starts to heat up on the run-up to the big fight in London as Dicky, fresh from being disgraced and demoralised by the HBO documentary, is released from prison. However Micky promised his new management team he wouldn’t work with Dicky any longer. Stuck between a rock and a hard place once more Mickey has to choose between his mentor and girlfriend who’ve got him to the title shot and his brother who taught him everything. He chooses Dicky.
It all gets a bit passionate after that, with Dicky leaving the gym and returning to the crack house he often patronised and displaying his abandonment of the drug that tore his life apart. Once that small detail is done with he confronts Charlene about everything and persuades her to re-join the team along with O’Keefe. Once again Micky stands in the background as Dicky takes centre stage.
Onwards then, to the big finale, Ward vs. Neary for the WBU Light Welterweight title. As extreme underdog, Micky takes a pounding from Neary, and does so for most the fight. With the crowd constantly on Micky’s back and the commentators continually ribbing him, it all comes down to one round where Dicky, in one of Bale’s finest moments in the movie, gives Micky a pep-talk to get him pumped up, telling him to put everything bad into this one round and come out a champion.
Does he do it? Of course he does. But the way he does it it just awesome. From nowhere landing punch after punch, even taking the time to raise his arms as if to celebrate his resurgence. Eventually he wears Neary down, landing one last punch as the Brit falls to the ground in defeat. Cue the scenes of jubilation as Micky Ward cements himself as the pride of Lowell.
So you’d think Christian Bale and Amy Adams are the star performers in The Fighter, seeing they’ve been nominated for countless awards. You’d be partly right, their performances do make the movie brilliant. But a performance that hasn’t been mentioned or acclaimed half as much is that of Mark Wahlberg.
Yes, he’s been in some awful movies in the past, and his acting credentials have come into question many a time. Frankly I’m amazed anyone left The Happening with their career intact, but you have to hand it to him with this one, he is brilliant. His performance appears subdued and understated but he manages to capture all of what Micky Ward was about. Yes Bale is more noticeable, just like Dicky in real life, but Wahlberg’s subtle performance as a boxer who’s boxed into the corner desperate to break out and become something special is the glue that holds this film together.
All in all this movie is great one. I’m not usually a fan of sports movies as they usually tend to be boring and heavily Americanised. But The Fighter isn’t just a boxing movie, it’s got really gritty drama inside right from the first ring of the bell. Yeah on second thought, maybe The Fighter was the best name to go with, a man who fights not just his opponent in the ring but also a man who fights through the barriers put up by his family. Not to mention how confusing it would’ve been if there were two True Grit movies out there…
Final verdict: 4 Stars. The best sports movie I’ve seen since Friday Night Lights.
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