Barrett’s Awards Season Review: ‘The Fighter’ is, Yeah I’m Gonna Say It, A Knockout

GRADE: A

As this year’s awards season kicks into high-gear, everyone is proclaiming The Social Network and/or The King’s Speech to be the proverbial favorites for Best Picture. I want to warn each of the crews from those respective films to take a deep breath and prepare to do battle with The Fighter. The “based on a true story” boxing film is funny, heart-warming, emotionally engaging, and features killer performances from the entire cast. After it’s over you will feel so good inside, you’ll want to stand up and cheer. The Fighter is a contender.

Following the true story of Mickey Ward and his older brother Dicky Ecklund, The Fighter is not at all your typical boxing movie. Yeah there are training montages, and yeah there are ups and downs, wins and losses. But this film has so much grit, heart and humor that you can’t help but fall in love with it.

The opening scene of the film is one of the best of the year, and one that put a big, fat grin on my face. It’s of Mickey (Mark Wahlberg), an up-and-coming young boxer, walking through the streets of Lowell, Massachusetts with his older brother Dicky (Christian Bale), a former boxing star himself, best known for “knocking down” the great “Sugar” Ray Leonard several years previously. Since then, Dickey has let his temptation of partying get the best of him and has fallen into the depths of crack addiction. But does that mean Dickey has detached himself emotionally from his family and community? Hell no! In this five-minute opening scene, Dickey has his arm around his little brother, who he loves dearly, shaking hands, giving noogies and slapping high fives with his friends and neighbors. He’s still beloved by everyone thanks to his vibrant, funny and upbeat attitude.

That’s not to say that Dickey’s crack addiction doesn’t put a strain on the relationship with his family. He’s always late to train his brother; waking up in a crack house, realizing that he’s late and sprinting to the nearby gym to be by his brother’s side. But Mickey is starting to question whether he can rely on his brother to be there during the long haul, but still gives him unconditional slack, support and the benefit of the doubt.

The rest of Mickey’s wacky, devoted family also puts strain on his focus, and the eventual love interest he has with a local bartender, Charlene (Amy Adams). Mickey has very a very tough decision to make: does he stick with his tight-knit family, who has been by his side through every fight, even though they put their interest in front of his? Or does he put emotion to the side, get focused and enlist the services of clear-headed people to help him train and become a boxing champion?

The #1 aspect of The Fighter that makes it great are the unbelievable performances. As he did with The Machinist and Rescue Dawn, Christian Bale sheds a scary amount of weight again to embody a thin, frail drug addict. His performance as Dicky is absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen such a joyous, lovable crackhead. His vibrant love of life oozes through the screen in infectious fashion. Christian Bale is a hands down lock for Best Supporting Actor. Melissa Leo should also be the hands-down favorite for Best Supporting Actress as Mickey and Dicky’s sharp-tongued, unconditionally proud mother. Amy Adams was brilliant as well, as Mickey’s girlfriend who has to stand her ground against his army of chain-smoking, loyal sisters. I thought Mark Wahlberg was just okay, definitely didn’t hold his own against the other performances. He’s pretty much just being Mark Wahlberg, which isn’t a bad thing.

David O. Russell’s direction is great. His focus and care on the film’s performances is evident, givng his actors free-reign to let their characters emotions reign free of judgment or restraint.

The Fighter is just a delightful film, one that will surely win a slew of Oscars this year, and one that you should absolutely see.

What Should You Do? See it.