THE FIGHTER (2010)

The first time I saw Christian Bale was in Steven Spielberg’s war epic “Empire of the Sun” (1987). He was an innocent child with red ruddy face. Now, he is going through transition to become a great Character Actor, always bumped into great movies with great scripts (I observed, the other was Leo DiCaprio). Have you ever heard about Micky Ward? He was former WBU World Champion in 1980s period. Thiz is the real life compelling story about early years of his career. Talking about Ward will not be completed without talking about the man behind him, his personal trainer and half-blood brother, former Welterweight Champion Dicky Eklund. Eklund’s most notable fight was against Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978. I found that Boxing movies always made a deep impression about human struggle. It is perfect metaphor for any of us. You could feel the deepness and intensity, like in: Robert DeNiro’s “Raging Bull” (1980), Denzel Washington’s “The Hurricane” (1999), Russel Crowe’s “Cinderella Man” (2005) and American Hero Icon “Rocky” (1976-2006). Micky Ward played by Mark Wahlberg. At a glance, Wahlberg is a perfect choice for boxer figure, but once again Mark Wahlberg is still Mark Wahlberg, although he was not so bad in his acting, we can still see the typical Mark Walhberg. In point of fact, the most interesting part that attracts us in thiz film is Christian Bale’s transformation as Dicky Eklund. If you know Eklund in person, then you know how Eklund’s attitude looked like, how he talks, the body language and his indifferent demeanor. Bale made a phenomenal impression to portray that figure completely. A good acting is not only coming from the appearance, but how you can create a precise ‘soul’ to fill the character. And Bale made it! After all these years, he reminds me, how much he has been dealing with each of his roles so seriously. For me, he is the next Daniel Day-Lewis. The next thing that catches my attention is Amy Adams. Have you ever seen her in “Enchanted” (2007)? Adams made a sturdy and sexy performance all at once as Ward’s dauntless girlfriend. I kept asking myself, where that princess Giselle’s character has gone? The best bold performance actually comes from Melissa Leo for the mother figure. There was a scene in a living room, when Leo talked furiously to her family. In that moment, I really feel she actually talks to me, the amazing gesture to portray a real situation surprisingly comes from that small role. Again, the movie used a lot of Hand-Shake Cameras method to drag you into the middle of situation. Notably, I love how every time they pull us into ‘Boxing Ring Scene’. Suddenly, it looks like, we has been watching those 1980s TV boxing matches, the picture contrast and camera angles have suddenly changed dramatically. The movie direction comes from not-too-very-active Director, David O. Russel. He usually only made one film for every two or three years. Some of his Directing Credits were “I Heart Huckabees” (2004) and my favorite “Three Kings” (1999). Substantively, you could see Eklund was using Ward to redeem his past mistakes. Eklund needed Ward. Even more, His entire family needed Ward. I really understand, Ward was becoming their asset, hope and dream. But the truth is Ward also needed them. The movie reminds us, everybody needs everybody. You don’t need time machine to change your past. But you can actually change it now in a present time.

Stars : 7,5/10
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Jonny Fendi