Movie Review: The Fighter

Mark Wahlberg's new film The Fighter, hitting theaters nation wide this Friday December 17,  has gotten a lot of buzz about it already.  It has already won Best Ensemble from the Boston Society of Film Critics, Best Supporting Actor for Christian Bale from the Boston Society, National Board of Review, USA along with Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards (where Melissa Leo also won Best Suporting Actress) and at the the Palm Springs International Film Festival David O. Russell picked up the Director of the year award. Now as of yesterday the film was nominated for 6 Golden Globes.
     The film is based on the true story of the lives of Mickey Ward (Walhberg) and Dicky Eklund (Bale), brothers living and boxing in Lowell, Massachusett's.  Dicky is famous in the the town for having knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard during a 1980 match up and he is now training his brother Micky to be a professional fighter.   The only problem is that Mickey's family is so much as helping him but hurting his chances of really going professional.  Will he have to leave his family behind to make it big or will outsiders actually steer him in the wrong direction?
       The casting in the roles for each character was fantastic. Putting Wahlberg in the lead role of Ward was perfect because he was made for it.  Wahlberg formally known to many as Marky Mark,  for those who remember his 90s singing career, was born and raised in Boston to a large family that didn't have a lot.  He got into brawls and lots of controversy at the end of his rapping/singing career.  He actually used to look like a boxer back in the time when this film is set, early 90s.  Also before he did make it as Marky Mak he was the brother of a famous boy band member from New Kids on the Block, Donnie Wahlberg.  In this role he was probably able to recount how life was during those years of his life as well as what he has learned since then.
     Bale as the has been boxer brother was fantastic.  The character is a little off his hinges because of a lot of things going on in his life, I don't want to spoil it.  Bale, ever the character actor, lost a significant amount of weight to play the roles as well, not as much as he did for "The Machinist" but still a lot.  He also adopted the accent very well and it rolled fluidly through his performance of the character, not everyone can really do that when changing from the accent one nationality to another and then even adding on a regional trait.
   Melissa Leo who is known currently known for her work on the show Treme is fantastic.  As the over baring mother, matriarch and basic clueless person that is Alice Ward, she excels.  I didn't even recognize her in the role and I am an avid watcher of the series Treme.  She takes the idea of the bad momager, mostly out for herself, and really drives it home.  At times in the movie if I could have I would have slapped her, which means she is really doing her job.      
     And then there is the role of loving and supporting girlfriend Charlene played my Amy Adams. The character is a leap from the mousy, prissy or unsure of themself type roles that she is used to talking in her other films.  Charlene is a fighter herself and not afraid to speak her mind or back up what she says whether it be with word or fists (there is a scene that you gotta see).  This role really takes her out her type of character and I hope that it leads to more varieties of characters like this.

If you are planning on going to see a film this week end head for this one.  You will laugh, you won't cry, but it will get you pumped and you may get interested in boxing.