The Fighter

The Fighter is an extremely difficult film. It is supposed to center upon Micky Ward, who was an Irish boxer in the 1980's who made a slow rise to prominence in his early thirties. In the film, Ward is played by Mark Wahlberg. That is the central problem of the film. For, Wahlberg has decided to play Ward, who was not very interesting to begin with, as a stoic and sheltered figure. Ward is constantly surrounded in the film by his family. The family clings to Ward as their little town's claim to fame. His mother Alice (played wonderfully by Melissa Leo) surrounds herself with a posse of snide sisters to Micky in order to maintain her confidence. Alice is aided by her other son, Dickie, who has been the town's claim to fame for knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard. Dickie is played by Christian Bale. It is a wonderful performance that brims with the charismatic life that fills every scene he inhabits and seeps into the other actors. It is not show-offy but genuine and immersive. Again we return to the problem the film encounters, for as Micky Ward attempts to "be his own man" and pushes back at Alice and Dickie, we see that he is not really very interesting. Also, it is not Micky who initiated this change, but his girlfriend Charlene (who is played with a bitter-sweet nuance by Amy Adams in her best role). Charlene comes head to head with Micky's family as she fights for his career. As Micky's career takes off, the family steps aside, but when the important days come, Micky wants his family there despite their problems. This is the problem. We see two charismatic sides pulling at a boring central figure. We see Wahlberg's face devoid of emotion or nuance, set upon a single idea or thought, and then we see the expressive face of Bale's character or the piercing looks of Adam's or Leo's. This does not however destroy this well-crafted and undeniably inspirational film. For instead one can view Micky as the boring tough-guy in all of these situations, and then the film becomes a commentary on hopes and dreams others place in an essential tool. This alternative solution to the film's problems is not very pleasing though and one has to wonder if that was really the intent of director David O. Russell. What can be said of the film is that it is fun. Micky isn't so fun, but Dickie encompasses so much of the film that his character's arc is more than satisfying. Perhaps the film should have been purely about Dickie, and we could have seen how an older, destructive Dickie watches his younger brother enter the limelight. Either way, The Fighter becomes merely a good film that is memorable because of its performances.
The Fighter: ★★★1/2