Review - The Fighter

The Fighter:

Of all the Films that have been made about sports, Boxing seems to be the sport that has the most memorable and great films. Raging Bull and the Rocky Films (well most of them) are examples of great films that have been acclaimed by fans and critics. The Fighter had been built up to be the latest great Boxing film and it did not disappoint.

A stellar cast is the main reason why the Fighter is a success but there are many reasons why. The fighter was entertaining,fun,uplifting and captivating with the main cast deserving the praise they are receiving.

The Fighter tells the true story of Mick "Irish" Ward, a professional boxer played by Mark Wahlberg who under the management of his mother (Melissa Leo) and his big brother Dicky Ecklund (Christian Bale) who was a boxer with his claim to fame being he once floored the great Sugar Ray Leonard.Ward's career is going downhill and after meeting Charlene (Amy Adams) and a few problems and changes, he tries to get his career moving under a new management.

Wahlberg is in fine form and is a surprise he hasn't been nominated for the major awards as his performance as Micky is a great performance which helps show Wahlberg at his best and Amy Adams is great as his girlfriend and there is a noticeable chemistry between the pair which makes their relationship believable and adds to interest in their characters.

 Melissa Leo's mother and Christian Bale's Brother are the two performances drawing the most praise and rightfully so.Melissa Leo is great as the mother who favours Dicky over Micky and although she cares for both her sons, she always seems to come across as wanting the best for Dicky over Micky which helps add to the intruiging relationship between the main characters and will probably bring her a deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress while Bale will most probably win a deserved Best Supporting Actor award.

Christian Bale's performance is fantastic as the crack addicted ex fighter Dicky Eklund and grabs the audiences attention every time he is on screen with a superb performance. Bale lost a lot of weight like he did for the Machinist to play the drug addicted character and it paid off as Bale surely secures his position as one of the finest actors around with another great performance.

The Fighter is not just a boxing film. It is a film about a family and their relationship with others and each other as well and the first part of the film has a good slow build up with an introduction and insight into the characters compared to a great second half which picks up the pace and there are more fight scenes as Ward tries to kick start his career towards a World Title shot.

The Final fight was exciting and captivating  and like all fight scenes was very realistic and looked like they were real fights.

Overall a Fine cast and great story of a boxer and his quest for glory while keeping relationships in his Family sweet means the Fighter was a joy to watch and i would highly recommend the Fighter to anybody who is thinking of seeing it.It is another fine entry into what is starting to shape up in the early stages of the year as a very good year of Films.

9/10