Review of The Fighter (2010) by Denny D — 16 Apr 2012

Hard to believe this is the same director that did Three Kings and I <3 Huckabees, but Russell's style is slowly showing between his films.

I really enjoyed the Fighter, and not just because I'm a fan of combat sports. The trailers made it look like any other stereotypical sports drama, but what they fail to mention (and what I didn't even realize until a little while before I actually watched the movie) was that it was based on the true story of Lowell MA's legendary Micky Ward. Bale definitely overshadows Whalberg in the drama of his role but I enjoyed how they played off of each other and came to represent different sides of the same passion. The way actual boxing footage was used from Dicky Ecklund's fight with Sugar Ray Leonard was a nice touch, as were the visual filters/displays during the actual boxing scenes that made it look like a TV broadcast on HBO from the 90's.