Click to view the trailer
The story of Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Oscar Nominated Christian Bale). Dicky was once a good fighter with a shot at the title against Sugar Ray Leonard, but he got into drugs and it led him down a long rough road. His brother Micky also got into fighting and Dicky became his trainer. Hilarity ensues when Micky meets Charlene (Oscar Nominated Amy Adams) and tensions break out between her and Micky’s mother Alice (Oscar Nominated Melisa Leo), who is very controlling and thinks she knows what is best for Micky. Will Micky be able to break away from Dicky and get his shot at a title or will the family drag him down with them?
Trivia: Darren Aronofsky was previously attached to direct but left the production to work on Black Swan. Both Black Swan and The Fighter have been nominated for Best Picture this year. Art Ramalho’s gym is the actual Lowell West End Gym and not a set. This is in fact where Micky trained and is still a functioning boxing gym to this day. Christian Bale reportedly lost weight to achieve the very thin frame of Dickie Ecklund by eating very little. He even went missing for hours at a time in preparation for his role. In the film, Christian Bale plays Dickie Eklund, who is 7 years older than his half-brother Mickey Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg. In reality, Wahlberg is 3 years Bale’s senior. Mark Wahlberg began training for the role in 2005. Throughout the various production delays, Wahlberg continued to train every day so that he could be ready for filming. Filming finally began in July 2009. Although Micky Ward is an orthodox boxer, Mark Wahlberg, who is left handed, portrays him as a southpaw.
The Characters: Micky Ward is a fighter from a small town. He was considered a stepping stone, a fighter other fighters used to step up to the next level. Dicky Eklund had a fighting career but fell in with the drug crowd and nothing was the same after that. His drug abuse was the subject of a real life HBO documentary. Alice Ward was a domineering mother, she felt she knew what was best for her sons and almost single mindedly pursued it. Charlene Fleming was not about to back down from Alice.
The Actors: This is what makes this movie stand out. As you just read I mentioned in the plot summary three of the four actors have been Oscar Nominated. Melissa Leo and Amy Adams have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Christian Bale for Best Supporting Actor. I believe Bale and Leo have a very good chance of taking home the golden statuette. Leo is awesome as Alice, she is able to keep up with Wahlberg’s Micky and Bale’s Dicky without skipping a beat. I have yet to see two of the Supporting Actress’s movie so I can’t quite put in my prediction but I am close to writing Leo. On the other hand, I am completely prepared to predict Christian Bale will win come February 27. I have not seen The Town and Jeremy Renner’s nominated performance but based on the fact that I hadn’t heard anything about his performance before the nominations were announced leads me to think he is probably acting filler. Not that I think Bale is in anyway going to win by default or anything. He was mesmerizing in this performance, from the first time you see him and think to yourself, “Wow, that is Christian Bale” through his upbeat happy attitude even during bad times to his last scene, he owned the movie. I have seen the other nominees and Bale is almost as big a lock as Heath Ledger was when he played the Joker. If anyone but Bale win it would be a major upset.
The Experience: The acting makes this movie. The story is full on Rockyesque. Some points are a bit predictable even considering the fact that I knew this was a true story but I didn’t know what that story was. The boxing scenes were good. Go see this movie, the acting is terrific.
Hilarity Ensues 