The Fighter
David O. Russell has had an up-and-down career thus far. Partially for his polarizing attitude (here’s a guy that couldn’t get along with George Clooney — yes, Clooney), but also because of his films themselves. His debut “Spanking the Monkey”? A miss for me. “Flirting With Disaster”? Really quite underrated if you ask me. “Three Kings”? A superb look at the first Gulf War that marked his first collaboration with Mark Wahlberg. His last film, 2004’s “I Heart Huckabees”? Flawed but not without its charm, especially in a superb performance by Wahlberg that hinted at the greatness to come with his Oscar-nominated turn in “The Departed” and now his third collaboration with Russell, the inspired-by-a-true-story labor of love, “The Fighter.”
Wahlberg gives a genuine star turn as Micky Ward, a Massachusetts street worker with aspirations of being a champion boxer like his brother Dickie, who once went the distance against Sugar Ray Leonard. Dickie is played with fierce and funny energy by Christian Bale as a selfish junkie who means well in enabling his brother’s dreams and is excited about having an HBO documentary crew follow him on his “comeback.” But as the film goes along, Dickie realizes he’s the butt of a joke (the doc is really about crack addiction), and the pain is palpable on Bale’s face. Still, Dickie’s love for his brother is never in doubt, even if his actions are questionable. It’s a tour de force for Bale (especially when you see him go through withdrawals in prison) and proof that even when he isn’t in a cape and mask (or yelling at cameramen), he’s one of the scariest people in movies.
The other revelatory performance in this film is from Amy Adams, who is a long way from the chipper performances she gave in “Julie & Julia,” “Leap Year,” “Junebug,” and “Enchanted” to give her most honest and startling performance to date as Charlene, the bartender Micky starts dating, who hopes Micky can break free from Dickie and his toxic mother, Alice (a bitchy and unforgiving Melissa Leo). They mean well but haven’t been doing Micky any favors, and when a fight on ESPN goes wrong, even Micky is thinking a change is in order. Charlene is the beginning of his road to finally get his chance at the title, and the role gives Adams an opportunity to add some street-wise toughness to her natural charm.
The best thing Wahlberg (who’s been working on bringing this story to the screen for years) did was bring Russell in to direct the script with the same sense of entertainment and intimacy that helped “Rocky” & “Million Dollar Baby” score at the Oscars. Russell is as at home with the family drama as he is in the ring. The boxing matches aren’t stylized like “Raging Bull” and the “Rocky” movies, but they certainly pack the right emotional punch as shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema, especially in key bouts that led to a title shot and unlikely reconciliation between his new boxing family and his biological family. Whatever the fight, Wahlberg has what it takes to go the distance in a movie that brims with heart while also getting at the harsh truths that drive us.
