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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Sometimes dreams and fame are not that all cracked up to be. In the world of fame, crack and all those other drugs can either hamper one career or make dreams end instantly. What happens when some of your biggest sports stars reminisce about their time when they did some spectacular only to live in that moment over and over again. Ever heard a person claim they made a game-winning basket over Michael Jordan, scored lower in a round of golf against Tiger Tiger Woods y’all, or even knocked down The GREATEST Muhammad Ali. Well, Dicky Eklund knocked down one of the greatest boxers of his generation, Sugar Ray Lenoard. Well, life came quick to Eklund, and that crack took hold of him. The Fighter is a film about him and his younger brother, Micky.
Directed by David O. Russell, The Fighter centers on the lives of professional boxer Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale). The film starts off with brothers Micky and Dicky in front of the camera of an HBO film crew who is making a documentary about Dickey. Dickey is known around the neighborhood as the “Pride of Lowell (Massachusetts).” Dicky lives off, and his primary claim to fame was his 1978 boxing match with Sugar Ray Leonard, where Eklund knocked down Leonard but ultimately lost to Leonard. Dickey always tells people that he knocked down Leonard, but now in 1986, Dickey is a MAJOR crack addict and believes that the documentary is about his boxing comeback at the ripe good old age of 40. He is no Tom Brady. While Dickey believes he can come back, for the past ten years, he has acted as one of the two trainers for his younger half-brother, Micky. Micky has developed the reputation of a brawler and is only good for as an easy win for other boxers. Both of the brothers’ careers are managed by their overbearing mother, Alice Ward (Leo), who believes it’s better to keep all decisions in the family. With Dicky’s crack addiction and being highly unreliable, along with Alice thinking she knows best, sets up a fight for Micky where he gets his ass handed to him. Micky reflects on his career and whether his family has his best interest at heart. While reflecting, Micky meets Charlene (Adams), who is a local bartender and college drop-out but takes no shit from anyone. Charlene convinces Micky to give boxing another chance but without his mother and brother. As Micky starts climbing the ranks, Alice and Dicky feel like they should be part of the success. Things come ahead when Dicky is arrested, and the HBO special airs for the world to see while Micky gains a shot at the world welterweight championship.
Honestly, I want to start with the cast of this film. The boxing is the primary setting of this film, but it is the freakin cast that makes this movie go. Mark Wahlberg is the star and centerpiece of this film, but freakin Christian Bale as Dick “Dicky” Eklund stole the movie and every scene that he was in. Bale took this role seriously and looked and felt like a former athlete who fell from grace by living on one fight and loving those drugs. Bale lost considerable weight and took on Dicky’s mannerisms and that Boston accent to heart. You just believed everything that Bale did as Dicky because whether it was him running down the street, telling stories about his fight against Sugar Ray, or even finally saying no to his drug addict friends, Bale embodied everything that was Dicky. Bale deserved his Academy Award because even I was like DAMN!
Let’s give a major shoutout and applause to the women in this film for their powerful performance. Amy Adams and Melissa Leo were outstanding in their respective roles. Let’s start with Melissa Leo as Alice Eklund-Ward. She was the mother of Dicky and Micky, along with their seven siblings. Homegirl popped out nine kids who were all sisters. Melissa as Alice was rough. I don’t mean a hard woman to look at. She was the one who was in charge. She told it how it was and when her authority was challenged, she would sick her pack on whoever was in her crosshairs. Melissa displayed her love for Dicky more than anyone else. She lived through him and let him get away with so much at the cost of Micky’s feelings. Now Amy Adams, as Charlene Fleming, on the other hand, was one of my favorite characters. Admas showed Charlene as a tough as nails, tell it how it is, sexy, powerful woman. Honestly, her best scene was when Alice and her daughters rolled up to her house. Charlene wasn’t having it and put her paws on several members. Five on one, and she still beat that ass. She is a skinny little woman. Love her for whipping that ass and taking names. Best scene in the whole movie.
Now for the star of the film and weakest performance is Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward. I don’t want to say that I wasn’t impressed with his performance, but it was meh in my eyes, and he was overshadowed by the others in the film. It honestly just felt like the same performance that Wahlberg always does. Was he entertaining? Yes. Was he Academy Award nomination worthy like the rest of the cast? Nope. It’s sad because I like Mark Wahlberg. I follow him, and he motivates me to get fit. It’s not like he is not a talented actor; the dude puts in the work when it’s a physically demanding role like this one and boxing.
Now for the actual movie. How do you have a boxing movie with very little boxing in it? What I mean by that is who was the actual fighter in this film. Was it Micky who loses a fight and doesn’t want to box anymore because he is tired of how his mother and brother book him? Is it the time he is actually in the ring and fighting his way up the rankings all the way to the championship fight? That is one story, but even as a supporting character, it seems like Dicky story was at the forefront. Is he the fighter because the story also revolves around him and the belief of his HBO special and his “comeback” as he continuously tells the story of how he went the distance with Sugar Ray and lives off that dream in his neighborhood? Yet, is his real fight when he goes to prison and finally gets clean after watching the HBO special and seeing that it was more about the crack epidemic and use than him making a comeback.
When it comes to the actual boxing in the film, they were good but not anything on the level of Rocky or even Ragin Bull. They were shot to give more of a sense from the fighter’s POV. It gave you a sense of what Micky or the fighter was going through, but you are never too heavily invested in it. Actually, now that I think about it, you are never really invested in any of the fights. You are more interested in the relationships between the brothers and family members.
The Fighter is an okay boxing movie with scenes that will get you a little excited. The real substance and greatness of this film come from the cast’s performances. Christian Bale steals this movie and takes it as his own as drug addict Micky. At the same time, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams turn in powerful performances that add even more appeal to this film. Wahlberg is decent but is greatly overshadowed. The Fighter is a good film to watch while watching Rocky and other boxing movies.
