Review of The Fighter (2010) by Sean B — 28 Jul 2012

Probably one of my favorite boxing movies if not my favorite boxing movie, "The Fighter" hits hard and is a great film. The movie based off the true story of boxing half brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund in Massachusetts.

One brother was a great boxer, while the other is growing to be a great boxer. I'd have to say that this is one of the best performances I've seen from Christian Bale throughout his career, if not his best.

Bale plays the crack addicted former boxing older half brother Dicky, who is training Walhberg's character, Micky. Bale lost a bunch of weight for the film to fit the profile of a crack addict, and has the performance down to a "T.

" He will entertain you the whole time, you'll love him, and you'll hate him all the same. Wahlberg does a great job as always as the younger half brother who is trying to put his family back together while trying to climb to the top of the boxing universe.

Besides those two, you also get a stellar performance from Melissa Leo; who plays their cigarette addicted, foul mouthed, one sided mother who is a definite piece of work. You are not going to like this woman, but she is such a great actress and does a phenomenal job in this movie.

Amy Adams turns in a good performance as Micky's bartending girlfriend Charlene, who comes into Micky's life and definitely stirs the pot of the family. The movie is full of great performances, some good boxing action, heartbreak, joy, and some good laughs.

You will like this film if you like sports dramas, it's probably one of the best in a long time and rightfully so, it got nominated for a few awards. The highlight is definitely Bale's performance and the storyline, but it is a great film all around.

Make sure you stick around during the credits to get a peek at the real brothers who show their faces, and you can see why they chose Bale and Wahlberg for their respective parts. A definite keeper, and one that everyone should see.

4/5 JD.