I really liked the movie, I should say. One of the better boxing movies of recent years, the boxing scenes were actually shot clearly, and standout performances by Wahlberg, Bale and Amy Adams. Also, it didn't consist entirely of bullshit psychobabble, which is more than I can say for the director's previous film, "I Heart Huckabees."
That said, four nitpicks:
- The movie acts like Micky Ward and his brother invented the Rope-a-dope, as though Muhammad Ali had never existed.
- Other than the movie, the thing Micky Ward is best known for is his three fights with Arturo Gatti in the early 2000s. Not only does "The Fighter" leave them out, but Gatti's life- what with the mysterious death and all- might have made a more interesting movie than Ward's.
- I love Melissa Leo, but I didn't love this performance- it was a lot of yelling disguised as good acting. And she just plain doesn't look right without red hair.
- The depiction of Wahlberg's evil, evil ex-wife. Maybe she truly was that awful, but I've got a feeling they were going by Ward's personal interpretation of events. At least they didn't have her write him a "you will never amount to nothing!" letter, like Wahlberg's ex in "Invincible" did.
Posted by Stephen Silver at December 22, 2010 01:29 AM