The Fighter

I hate the phrase "selling out," but when I see what directors like Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell are doing (or, in Aronofsky's case, are going to do), I get concerned. Russell has been a prickly helmer in the past, getting into shouting matches with George Clooney and Lily Tomlin. Whatever his work ethic, films like I Heart Huckabee's and Three Kings are singular experiences. I can't tell you that I fully understood I Heart Huckabee's, but I'm glad I saw it. Russell's next film will apparently be an adaption of a video game called Uncharted, starring Mark Wahlberg, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci. The latter two in a scene together should be interesting, but then the word about those scenes between De Niro and Harvey Keitel in Little Fockers wasn't too hot. The main problem is this: David O. Russell's directing a video-game adaptation? Of course, he's following up on The Fighter, a conventional film made a little less so simply by how energetic Russell's direction is.

Wahlberg stars as real-life boxer Micky Ward, a guy who'd love to be the champion but is being dragged down by his insane, deluded family. The film opens with Ward walking around Lowell, Massachusetts, his hometown, with his older brother, Dickie (Christian Bale, in an outsized enough yet exciting performance that's sure to get him Oscar heat). Dickie is being followed by an HBO documentary crew doing a piece about how crack addiction ruins people. Dickie thinks it's a documentation of his comeback to boxing (his high point was fighting Sugar Ray Leonard in the 1970s), and no one in his family wants to tell him the truth, or even wants to realize the truth. While the story--of how Micky is encouraged by his new girlfriend and his father to move away from his brother's and mother's influence if he wants to be a champ--is compelling, it also demands that I sit for two hours and watch some truly obnoxious people ruin a nice, if passive, guy.

The performances and direction are fine, if frequently calling attention to themselves. The issue is that the script is either so ridiculously contrived to make me furious, or the writers felt too beholden to what happened in real life to change anything for the movie. Not knowing anything about Ward's life and career, I can't tell you whether it's the former or latter here, but based on the clip of the real Micky and Dickie that appears during the end credits (proving how accurate Bale is in the film), I'm concerned that the writers were too worried about staying true to what happened. It's not a bad idea, but sometimes, the truth is so frustrating and convoluted that it's better to just make something up for what's already going to be intended as a heartwarming crowd-pleaser.

I'm at a bit of a loss to discuss The Fighter further, not because it's bad, but because I'm left a bit cold by it. I try not to go into movies with exorbitant expectations, so even though I know going into watching this movie (or The King's Speech, which I'll finally see tomorrow) that it has Oscar buzz and lots of critical raves, I try to watch the movie on its own merits. So I'm left with a well-made, if somewhat forgettable, boxing movie here. I can see why The Fighter is winning over Academy voters, and there are movies this year that I found more overrated by some critics (The Kids Are All Right is at the top of that list). But I know when a movie works for me, and when a movie just feels distant. The Fighter kept me at a distance from beginning to end. Some elements worked (Bale, Amy Adams in her best performance yet, and Melissa Leo playing a monstrous mother very well), some were just OK (Wahlberg does himself no favors by playing such a weak character, but is fine), and some are pointless (anyone need to tell me why the seven sisters exist in the film? Waste of space). I was hoping to be won over by The Fighter, and was left with nothing. So here's hoping for Uncharted...I guess.