I saw this film tonight and really enjoyed it. It had some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from Christian Bale, and he played a surprisingly trashy character, a crack addict and criminal with a heavy Boston accent. As usual, Bale transformed himself physically for the role, looking much thinner and less healthy than usual, and adopted a whole different system of posture and body language. He really made the character come to life.
I really hate boxing and actually think it should be banned, but I found myself captivated by the boxing part of the storyline and was always rooting for Wahlberg to win. Walhberg’s acting was a little less spectacular; he played the same kind of character he always plays, a scrappy underdog type, but it worked well enough for his character.
The other family members were remarkably trashy and grating, a real horror show…a testament to the actresses’ skill, I guess.
The one thing that stood out to me more than anything else was how old everything looked. I was positive the movie was set during the late 80s or early 90s, until I saw a website address prominently displayed on the boxing ring during the final fight. All the cars were old, all the music was 80s hard rock, and the characters dressed in 80s-looking clothes. The female hairstyles, too, seemed like they were from the 80s. Did anyone else feel this way?
I haven’t seen the film, but I saw the previews and thought, "I remember when this movie was called ‘Rocky.’ So, I gather that you didn’t see it as just a Rocky ripoff?
This movie is NOT a Rocky ripoff. Absolutely not. Totally different kind of movie…
I’d say The Fighter is in some ways a dark, dark comedy, as dark as a comedy can be. A film about some people who are so dysfunctional that you have to laugh at them, and one bewildered guy (Wahlberg) who struggles without much success to not be dragged down by them.
The dialog, pacing, and framing of scenes is very strange…much unlike any other film I’ve seen. There are parts of it that feel like a straight up documentary, and others that feel more like a “mockumentary.”
Been waiting to see it for almost three years. Ward is one of my favorite fighters. The missus said we could catch it at the Alamo Drafthouse tomorrow, but I’m going to try to get her to move up a night.
I’m a little late to the thread because hubby and I didn’t get to see this movie until tonight.
I agree that things looked pretty '80s, and also agree that the pacing was. . .peculiar. But I thought Bale’s performance was great, Wahlberg and everyone else seemed to do really well, too.
Oh, and that family was so entirely fucked up it made mine seem almost normal!
We both really enjoyed it, even though neither of us are into boxing.
Bale’s performance was the only thing about this film that would approach outstanding (OK, Melissa Leo’s was pretty good, too).
The movie itself, though, was pretty ordinary. The entire boxing thread was one giant cliche (yeah, I know it’s a true story, but I’ve seen it all before). I do not think this movie deserved a best picture nomination.
I missed this thread the first time around. Totally agree with the OP. Best movie this year. Bale is incredible. Even better when I saw the real guy at the closing credits. This is not Rocky or even a “boxing movie”. Go see it.
I also thought the film took place in the mid-1980s, and didn’t realize it wasn’t until reading this thread! Now I see from reading the bio on Micky Ward on Wikipedia that most of the fights were actually in the late-1990s, and the London match was in 2000.
I just saw it yesterday. The performances are amazing, especially Bale, Leo, and Amy Adams was, I thought, terrific. My wife has sworn off boxing movies since Million Dollar Baby, so it was just me, but yeah … it’s not really a boxing movie at all.
The music seemed odd to me, as well. It was pretty much all 80s stuff … I did really like seeing Dicky and Micky singing along to Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” on their way into the ring for the fight at the end. I think a screen title indicates the movie’s story starts in 1993. I guess it was a director’s decision to set the tone. It certainly did work with the look of the Mom and the sisters! I think I knew women with that look (and attitude, too) back in the 80s! Maybe Lowell is one of those places that runs a decade or so behind?
I agree with this somewhat. Bale and Leo were excellent, and I think Adams also deserved her nomination. Some of the supporting actors were also great (like the sisters and the dad). But like mmm, I thought the story was too neat and tidy, with happy endings for everyone.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked it a lot, and I don’t have a problem with it being one of 10 Oscar nominees, but I don’t think it would deserve a nomination in a field of five.
I strongly disagree that the sisters gave good performances. I think their casting was brilliant - and the direction given them was perfect (“look scary and ugly”). But their actual performance was individually pretty bad - they were aided by the fact that there were 8 of them and could trade off lines and not have to carry any scene by themselves individually.
I saw this tonight. I agree that Bale is great. He’s really transformed in this thing. I appreciated his performance even more when they show the real Dicky at the end and you see how closely Bale nailed him (and Wahlberg got pretty close to Mickey too, but Wahlberg already is kind of like Micky). It isn’t really about the boxing story, and it isn’t cliched even in that. It’s about the personalities, and the family dysfunction and all that (which is played more comically than melodramatically), and it plays against some cliches in that the hero isn’t really that great of a fighter, but just has the ability to absorb a lot of punishment until his opponents get gassed. He’s also besieged by the nonstop dysfunction and infighting of his family and his girlfriend. It’s not exactly warm and fuzzy. It’s like Rocky crossed with an epsode of Roseanne.
I found that I particularly liked the Amy Adams character, and especially liked her willingness to go toe-to-toe (physically if necessary) with Micky’s crazy mother and sisters.
I agree with everything you posted, Dio, with the added fact that I found Amy Adams *incredibly *sexy. I mean, wow. I’ll never look at her the same again.
Weird. Twice in one day, I click on a thread and see strange resemblances. Your birthday booklist is almost the same as mine, and damn yes, Amy Adams was rude, crude, amazingly hot, and played well against “type”.
Also, I think it was a great movie, and it was a nice shout-out to the Dropkick Murphys in the soundtrack. After all, the song is about Mickey.
I liked it a lot, though I’d put it pretty far down the list of 10 for Best Picture. Ahead of the cartoon, for sure, but I’m not sure what live action movie I’d put it ahead of. Truth be told, I think The Town should have gotten The Fighter’s Best Picture nomination.
One thing that struck me was that well over an hour into it, there had only been one boxing match and that match was shown in less than a minute. Nor were there really any training scenes. Certainly no montage. It’s like the anti-Rocky.
The thing that dated it to the 80s for me most wasn’t the hair or cars or songs, it was the HBO special on Dicky. The intro and graphics were old.
Ward is one of my favorite fighters. The missus said we could catch it at the Alamo Drafthouse tomorrow, but I’m going to try to get her to move up a night.
