The Fighter ***½ (2010, Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Yeo) – Classic Movie Review 4617

Boxing movies are a dime a dozen – and there have of course been great ones, from Champion and Rocky to Raging Bull and more recently Ali, Million Dollar Baby and Cinderella Man.

Director David O Russell’s double Oscar-winning 2010 The Fighter breaks no new ground in its over-familiar, not specially cosmic, exciting or inspiring tale of boxer ‘Irish’ Micky Ward.

On the other hand, the dialogue, performances, atmosphere and fights are all crackling, high-energy and superbly done, making for a live-wire movie, with Mark Wahlberg (as Ward) and Melissa Yeo (as his overbearing mother) particularly impressive, with Yeo winning a much deserved Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

Best of all, the film does itself huge favours by focusing on Ward’s tricky relationship with his strung-out, crack-addicted older half-brother, Dickie Eklund, an ex-boxer who helped train Ward before he dumped him when he went pro in the mid 1980s.

Although he also won an Oscar and Golden Globe (as Best Supporting Actor), Christian Bale turns in an overwrought, pompous performance that is an acquired taste as Eklund, though it is certainly very eye-catching. It is also a stretch to believe in nice Amy Adams, wilfully cast against type as Ward’s tough but supportive girlfriend.

But no one can say that any the actors don’t give of their utmost, and the same goes for director David O Russell (Three Kings), injecting hard muscle and big punch into the thing at every point.

The Fighter won Oscars for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Christian Bale) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Melissa Yeo). There are five other nominations: for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Amy Adams), Best Achievement in Film Editing (Pamela Martin) and Best Writing, Original Screenplay – Scott Silver (screenplay), Paul Tamasy (screenplay/story), Eric Johnson (screenplay/story) and Keith Dorrington (story). Bale and Yeo also won Golden Globes. Bale was voted British Actor of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards 2011.

In 2016 we have yet another real-life boxing movie, Bleed for This (2016).

David O Russell went on to Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013) and Joy (2015). His other films are Spanking the Monkey (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Three Kings (1999) and I Heart Huckabees (2004).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4617

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com