'The Fighter' Review

'The Fighter' tells the story of the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, and his brother Dicky who helped train him before he went professional in the mid 1980s. 'The Fighter' is another of this year's primary Oscar contenders, and upon watching this is notable for various reasons. However, when it comes to the award for Best Picture, this film to me feels undeserving as it did not quite seem to hit the mark. The trailer built this movie to be a very uplifting tale, filled with highly inspirational moments, yet the film never seemed to live up to it. The movie doe not have any major flaws, or moments where it really loses momentum, just altogether as a picture it fell a little short.

However, there is one thing about this movie that is notably fantastic - the performances. Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo all shone through the entire duration of this movie, each giving their all to the role they were playing. Christian Bale played the role of Dicky Eklund spot on, which was made clear from the clip of the real Dicky during the credits of the movie. At times it may feel like Bale's performance is bordering on caricature, however this is evidently what the real Dicky Eklund is like, so what we actually have is a perfect portrayal of a damaged man. Bale also brought a great deal of commitment to the role in that he lost a massive amount of weight to play the character, so what we have is a complete transformation from the Christian Bale familiar to most in Christopher Nolan's 'Batman' films. It is looking inevitable that Bale will win the Supporting Actor Oscar for this portrayal. Melissa Leo was my personal favourite performance of the movie, playing Micky And Dicky's mother Alice. She is just fantastic as a woman who firmly believes in family values, yet has a neglect for what is best for her son's career. Leo plays a strong, ballsy woman, and this is done superbly in the way that Leo holds her body and face. She has truly become this character, and the movements and voice prove this entirely. Although I have a lot of love for Helena Bonham Carter, I feel that Leo is a very deserving winner of the Supporting Actress Oscar this year.With these two big performances, it is easy to lose track of Wahlberg and Adams, even though their performances and characters are ultimately what holds the movie together. It is their more quiet performances that allow for Bale and Leo to really go for it, without it all turning into some over the top cartoon. Adams character is easy to root for as she seems to have a better understanding to what is best for her boyfriend Micky. She stands up to Alice and Micky's sisters in some of the funnier moments in the film. She brings a very real performance to the movie, consistently believable in her portrayal. Wahlberg has been somewhat underrated in his portrayal as Micky Ward, with no nomination at the Oscars. He brings subtle understated performance to the movie, which is easy to go unnoticed given the huge personalities which dominate the screen. However he must be given perhaps the most credit as he is the key to this movie working, taking an unselfish approach to his performance to ultimately allow others to shine.

The way in which the movie was shot was also very well done, most notably the boxing sequences, which were filmed in a way which looked like televised material. This was a very creative means of bringing a more dynamic picture to watch overall. Director David O. Russell also evidently had a very clear vision for this movie, with a focused insight into a dysfunctional family. He also creates a great deal of excitement within the boxing sequences, which I found impressive given the fact it is a sport of no interest to me.

There were elements to this movie which did bother me particularly. The most significant of these was the use of the sisters, in a means comparable to a Greek Chorus, always hanging over somebody's shoulder throughout. Some moments with them were funny and valuable to the movie, but overall they felt overused and bordering on silly. I also felt the ending came out of nowhere. Normally within a movie of this type, the ending is massively important, and when it arrives you know about it. However with this one, the final fight sequence seemed to end somewhat abruptly, which may not be a bad thing, but to me it made the movie feel like it ended on a dull thud.

This move overall is very good, and worth watching. However, with high expectations going into this movie that were not met , I felt a little let down. This movie however houses a series of fantastic performances, deserving of any award they win.

Verdict:

4 Stars