"Fighting" the Sports Genre Cliché
NEIRAD enilno edition
After four years of intense training, and patiently waiting as production delayed, Mark Wahlberg finally got to play his longtime idol, Massachusetts boxer Micky Ward. “The Fighter”, a movie that tells the tale of two brothers from a middle class Massachusetts town, and their dramatic relationship held together by boxing.
At first glance, the premise of “The Fighter” may seem familiar; down on his luck, athletically gifted male (played by Mark Wahlberg) finally catches a break and tries to prove everyone wrong for doubting him. There are obvious parallels between “The Fighter” and “Invincible”, not the least of which are the Mark Wahlberg-acted main characters, the chip on the shoulder, and the inevitable comeback.
But unlike “Invincible” (a good movie in its own right, about a local barmen who makes the Philadelphia Eagles roster) “The Fighter” has a great supporting cast that takes the pressure off Wahlberg. It also has something else going for it; it is a boxing movie, and with the exception of some of the Rocky sequels, that is a recipe for success.
I went into this movie with the expectation of seeing a good, albeit formulaic movie. I was right on neither count; “The Fighter” is a very good movie, and although the plot is far from unpredictable, the characters and fight scenes felt surprisingly real, with a sense of depth that immersed me in the story. Given the title, I expected to see quite a bit of Mark Wahlberg getting pummeled at the start of the movie, and then a lot of Mark Wahlberg pummeling opponents at the end of the movie. This is not the case, as there are only two fight scenes that last more than 30 seconds, and only four in total (one of them a brief montage).
In fact, there is practically no fighting until the final trimester of the movie. Not to fear; the movie lives up to its title by giving main character Micky Ward compelling psychological demons to battle.
Micky (Wahlberg) is a “stepping stone” in the professional boxing world; he is used as an opponent to beat for guys looking to make the next step and fight in a title bout. He lives in the small, middle-class town of Lowell, Massachusetts, as does all of his immediate family (mother father, seven sisters, and half-brother Dicky Eklund). Dicky (Christian Bale) is “the pride of Lowell”, thanks to a fight with Sugar Ray Leonard in which Dicky knocked Sugar Ray down for the first time in his career (there is some debate whether Sugar Ray was knocked down or merely tripped). But several years later, Dicky is over 40, and a crack addict with a long rap sheet who cannot even care for his son without the help of his mother. His only source of joy is coaching his younger brother Micky, who despite his hard luck and dieing boxing career (thanks in part to his mother and brother, who have mismanaged his career), is well respected in town.
When Dicky has a serious run-in with the law, Micky, with the support of his tough-as-nails girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams), decides to reevaluate his career, and the result is a complex drama involving fighting, family loyalty, redemption, and belief.
Wahlberg is more than serviceable in his role as Micky, and he certainly looks the part of a professional boxer thanks to his four years of intense training (he even brought a personal trainer with him on the sets of other movies). But ultimately, his character does not possess any qualities that we have not seen in a movie character before. The other characters are the source of intrigue. Bale is brilliant as Dicky, and to say he is the favorite to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor is an understatement. This might be his best performance yet, and given his diverse and successfully career, that is saying a lot. As the movie reaches its climax, Dicky’s quest for redemption is actually more compelling than Micky’s fight for respect.
But it would not be fair to stop with Dicky, even if he is the clear standout. Melissa Leo is very strong as Micky and Dickys’ mother Alice; she gave what might have been a cartoonish character that fit the clichéd domineering parent an earnest, caring side. One of my biggest fears was that the family in this movie would be unrealistically self-centered and stubborn, but the family dynamic is played well. Jack McGee provides wry humor as Micky’s father George, and Mickey O’Keefe rounds out the supporting cast by playing himself, the police sergeant who served as Micky Ward’s real-life trainer when Dicky was not around (I did not find out that O’Keefe was playing himself until after the movie, and for a guy with no acting experience he did a great job).
As great as the performances are, a subtle aspect of “The Fighter” that is likely to go unappreciated is the dedication to faithfully depicting the sport of boxing. Wahlberg said that as much as he loved and was inspired by “Rocky” and “Raging Bull”, he felt that the fighting was not realistic enough. He wanted to do Ward’s story justice, and stay away from “over-the-top, unrealistic fight scenes.” Wahlberg definitely succeeded. As I have already mentioned, the fighting does not dominate the movie in screen time or importance. Even in the end, when the big fights occur, you will not see the endless onslaught of uppercuts to the head, in which the boxers miraculously keep their wits. On the contrary, there are very few big punches, and the unfamiliar absence of them makes the few uppercuts that do connect with their target that much more satisfactory.
The plot of “The Fighter”, although good, is not breathtaking or of Oscar-winning caliber. But the performances in the supporting cast are, and I recommend this movie on the strength of these performances alone. If you are looking for lots of smash mouth, hard-hitting boxing, this is not for you – the headshots are few and far between. But this is a good thing, because the movie focuses on the complex lives, and not the relatively simple boxing careers, of the main characters. And if you are looking for a great acting performance just before the awards shows start, you would be hard pressed to find one better than Bale’s.
