Movie Review The Fighter

The Fighter (2010) 

Directed by David O. Russell

Written by Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Scott Siliver 

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo

Release Date December 10th, 2010 

Published December 7th, 2010

'Irish' Mickey Ward's battles with Arturo 'Thunder' Gatti are three of the greatest in ring wars that the boxing world has seen in the past 2 or 3 decades. These two warriors bloodied and battered each other for 12 rounds in three consecutive fights, two of which were named by Ring Magazine as fight of the year. The second fight likely would have also won fight of the year if it had not taken place the same year as the first.

How Micky Ward rose to those fights against Gatti, the apex of his career, is the story of “The Fighter” a sports drama from director David O. Russell and starring Mark Wahlberg in a role that he trained for four years for; all while trying to wrangle a director, turned down by Scorsese, abandoned by Darren Aronofsky, and a studio to make the movie.

As we join the story of “The Fighter” Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is a scuffling welterweight fighter in the midst of a losing streak. Many in the boxing world peg Ward's troubles to his brother/trainer Dicky Eklund a failed pro fighter who peaked in the late 70's in a fight with the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard before succumbing to crack addiction.

More than a decade after his boxing peak Dicky holds out hope of making an in ring comeback, a lie perpetuated by Micky and Dicky's mom/manager Alice (Melissa Leo). For now however, Dicky wastes hours and days in a dingy crack house when he is supposed to be prepping Micky for a bout on national television in Atlantic City.

The fight is a debacle as the fighter that Ward was supposed to face dropped out due to illness. The replacement is a full weight class above Micky but because no one will get paid if he doesn't fight, Dicky and Alice push Micky into the ring and Micky's career is nearly ended. This conflict unfolds in the first act of “The Fighter” and director David O. Russell elegantly flows these burgeoning conflicts into the second act where Dicky gets arrested, Micky gets hurt in the melee around Dicky's arrest and the family is shattered.

What separates “The Fighter” from your average sports movie? Not much really, despite a heavyweight cast “The Fighter” is essentially, at its heart, a classic sports movie. Director David O. Russell's challenge then was to find little ways for “The Fighter” to break the mold of the typical and he finds that in an indie style, low budget look that fits the rundown setting of aging Lowell Massachusetts, Micky and Dicky's longtime hometown.

Another departure from the typical sports movie comes in the clever mimicry of Micky Ward's actual fights. David O. Russell teamed with the real life sports director from HBO for scenes depicting Micky's Championship fight against Brit Shea Nealy. Using the actual call of the fight from the HBO boxing announcers brings an extra bit of authenticity to the brutal fight scene and underscores the reality of what we are seeing in the ring.

So many boxing movies amp up the noise of the punch or speed up the action to a point where two men could not possibly punch each other continuously without passing out from exhaustion; but not here, not in this movie. Restrained by Mark Wahlberg's strict adherence to the way Micky Ward actually fought and kept in pace by the actual call of the fights as they happened back in the late 90's, the boxing in “The Fighter” looks and feels true.

Also feeling true in “The Fighter '' is the family of Micky Ward. David O. Russell could not have been more blessed with a cast. Oscar nominees Melissa Leo and Amy Adams, who plays Ward's tough as nails girlfriend Charlene, are an electronic duo who clash personalities like a car wreck on the Lowell Parkway. Melissa Leo is backed up by an army of unknown actresses who take on the roles of Micky and Dicky’s sisters and their authentic look, just slightly behind the times, and their raw trailer park energy make their scenes as lively as any in “The Fighter.”

Christian Bale is the stand out as Dicky, a flashy role that Bale nevertheless makes real with his mastery of the real Dicky Eklund a gregarious yet troubled soul who maintained a strong sense of humor and self even as he was in the grips of addiction. That is attested to in a 1994 documentary that aired on HBO about Dicky's addiction to crack. "High on Crack Street" played a big part in Bale's research of the role as did the presence of the real Dicky Eklund who Bale bonded with off-screen.

The underrated MVP of “The Fighter” is Mark Wahlberg not for his performance which is hampered somewhat by being the least colorful of a group of colorful characters but for the work he did in dedicating himself to telling this story. Wahlberg grew up not too far from where Micky Ward did and like Micky he found trouble early in his own life only to get things turned around in a big way.

Wahlberg had to tell this story and you can see his blood, sweat and tears determination to get Ward right in every frame of “The Fighter.”

If the film is ultimately a conventional sports movie so be it, “The Fighter” has the heart and energy of the best of the genre but with David O. Russell, Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg breaking their backs to tell this story there is something more here, an intangible quality that sets “The Fighter” apart and lifts it well above just a sports movie.

Movie Review: 8 Mile

8 Mile (2002) 

Directed by Curtis Hanson 

Written by Scott Silver

Starring Eminem, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger

Release Date November 8th, 2002 

Published November 7th, 2002 

Once, Detroit was the center of the automotive boom. Flush with jobs the area was a boomtown until a sea change in the 60's when riots and recession began to reshape the city. By the 1980’s, the automotive boom was over. General Motors, amongst other car companies, began closing plants and laying off workers. The economic strife led many, mostly white people to move away from Detroit. The racial divide which has always been unspoken became more pronounced as one city street became a geographical dividing line between black and white. 

That street was 8 Mile, and it was on this street lined with run down buildings that a community of underground musicians began to rise, particularly a rap scene that was on the verge of changing the music scene. The movie 8 Mile dramatizes the underground Detroit rap scene, focusing on the white kid who would shock everyone by becoming it's breakout star. 8 Mile is not technically a biography of rapper Eminem, but the story of Eminem's 8 Mile character closely parallels the real life of the Real Slim Shady.

Eminem stars as Jimmy Smith Jr., known to his friends as Rabbit. As we join the story Rabbit is about to take the stage for a verbal war. Rappers get on stage dissing each other to the delight of the crowd, who ever delivers the stronger rap, wins. The battle of the MC's is presided over by Rabbit's close friend Future, effectively embodied by Mekhi Phifer. Future has had to beg and plead with Rabbit to jump on stage and show the skills that he and the crew known as the 313, for the Detroit area code, have seen. It is the skill we in the audience know he has, because he's Eminem. 

In the film however a frightened Rabbit first pukes his guts out backstage then get on stage and freezes, walking off stage without a word. Whether it was the hostile all black crowd, or his opponent Popa Doc's savage raps, we aren't sure. However, to see the man who in real life is known for his fast and fearless style run off stage without a word is an intriguing introduction the semi autobiographical story. 

Rabbit can be forgiven his lack of focus on stage as off stage he has real problems. He and his girlfriend have broken up after she revealed she is pregnant. Rabbit just lost his job delivering pizza's and now works at an automotive parts plant, a job no one wants. Worst of all Rabbit must go back to his mother’s trailer where his alcoholic mother is living with her equally alcoholic boyfriend, who is merely 2 years older than Rabbit himself. 

Future has big plans for himself and Rabbit, he wants to record a demo but most of all he holds out hope that someone important will hear Rabbit onstage and offer to produce them. Unfortunately, Future has been talking like this for years while another friend, a hustler named Wink (Eugene Bird) is actually making some things happen at a local radio station, though his tactics may be less than ethical. Wink also represents the 313's rivals, a group that includes Popa Doc (Anthony Mack) and rapper Xzibit as the group’s leader Hassan. 

With battles at home and on the streets, Rabbit turns to his friends for shelter then meets a girl that could be his oasis from all the trouble. Brittany Murphy plays Em's love interest, Alex, a wannabe model with a connection to Wink who she says is helping her get a modeling contract. The relationship develops quickly with Rabbit jumping in quickly even while Alex's motives are obviously unseemly. Alex's ulterior motives, as apparent as they are to the audience, give depth to the character that is necessary to leaven Murphy's bubbly exterior. When Alex's duplicitousness is shown to Rabbit the scene is very effective and gives her presence throughout the remainder of the film a kick. From there, the story is a very conventional overcoming the odds story that will obviously culminate with Rabbit onstage. 

The main question everyone wants answered is, can Eminem act? The answer is an honest 'I don't know.' Yes he does have an effective presence but the fact that he is playing a version of himself makes the comfort he shows in front of the camera a little too easy. Rabbit never transcends Eminem to become a separate entity. You can't separate Eminem from the character, a quality necessary when judging the performance. 

The thrust of the film comes from the stage. The rap battles are as exciting as any boxing match, with words landing like body blows and the audience cheering like the hordes at the roman coliseum every time a sword lands a blow. It is in these scenes that Em truly shines, showing his remarkable self-deprecating wit and savage wordplay. Nevertheless, once again, this does blur the line between character and actor.

The main problem with 8 Mile isn't Eminem, it is director Curtis Hanson. Best known for being an actor’s director, Hanson has never been short on intelligent word play and he isn't in 8 Mile. What is lacking is style. Hanson's Detroit is a depressed bombed out city that looks more at home in the former Czechoslovakia than Michigan. Yes, economic hardship has taken its toll on the city over the years but Hanson's vision of Detroit is at times so bleak that it's distracting. We see that Rabbit has a lot to overcome with his mother, played by Kim Basinger, an ex-girlfriend and soon to be mother of his child played by Bridget Moynihan, and with his would-be career in Hip-Hop. Is it necessary that he also overcome his physical surroundings, which seem to swallow him at times in a depressive gray hue. 

The little light there is comes from Rabbit's interaction with his crew, Future, Cheddar Bob (Evan Jones), D.J Iz (De Angelo Wilson) and Sol George (Omar Benson Miller). The easy fun interaction between the friends provide the few light moments 8 Mile provides.

8 Mile isn't a bad film, it's just too conventional at times. It's as if Curtis Hanson simplified his style to make an easier environment for his first time star. The film needs a more risk-taking style and less genre safety. The film plays too straight, it needs maybe some handheld camera style, and more close-ups or deep focus shots. Something different from the point and shoot style of every other film.  I liked 8 Mile, especially the on stage verbal warfare, but there is something wholly unsatisfying about it. I recommend 8 Mile but it's not as good as many of us had hoped.