[Jenson71]

My review of the The Fighter:

David Russell's The Fighter is set amidst impoverished neighborhoods, aimless losers, dysfunctional families, drugs, and a sweat-caked working class. Out of this chaos comes an order directed by an individual whose strength of the 'head-body' strategy in the boxing ring matches his intense loyalty for his family and friends. Though not as genre-defining as Rocky or as emotionally draining or monumental as Raging Bull, as many critics have pointed out, it is a solid, inspiring picture with a strong moral center.

There are two fighters in the movie: brothers Micky (Mark Wahlberg), younger, grounded and serious, and Dickie (Christian Bale), the older one who once tasted national success, but has been wasting his life with hard drugs. Dickie is supposed to be helping his younger brother train, but his divorce from reality and responsibility caused by his drug use makes him a detrimental buffoon. Christian Bale's wild performance, completed by serious weight loss for the role, is a favorite for all the Best Supporting Actor awards. The movie lets Bale show of his talents, but in my opinion, there was only really one scene, with him and Amy Adams on her front porch, that really drew me into the character. The rest of the time, his self-destruction is less about a dramatic inner turmoil (his turnaround after the prison stint is entirely too cookie-cutter, easy, and clean) and more about providing amusement for the audience and a vehicle for Micky's progression. The drug use is pretty much glossed over and limited to shots of Dickie smoking and a brief withdrawal scene in prison.

That said, Micky's progression is interesting in itself, as he faces the conflict between furthering his life goals, and maintaining the bonds of his family, especially towards Dickie, and girlfriend that he treasures. The females in his family come off as not bad people (fortunately), but people who make bad decisions and can't fully see their way around situations and other people. The strong supporting characters in Micky's life aren't perfect -- their arguments, like in real life, are choppy, incomplete, and not thoughtful. But they are good-intentioned people who stress the consequences of decisions and actions. These scenes with the supporting characters provide a nice mixture of humor, drama, and sadness that keep the film at an enjoyable pace (along with a pretty strong soundtrack).

Micky's nobility is shown as a sort of pleaded idealism ('Can't we all just get along!?'), but a sincere one, and in his focus on striving for an excellence in boxing. It is not, however, through sacrifice. Although Micky seems to love his brother, why hasn't he done anything to pull him off the drug use? I have one brother, and if I lived around him and constantly saw him on a drug-induced high, would I be shrugging it off and getting back to the punching bag (or relevant equivalent)? I hope not. Still, I don't want to fault the movie for that too much, because overall, the forgiveness, loyalty, and love theme does manage to strike well in The Fighter, and it deserves credit for that.