Movie Review For The Fighter.

 

The Fighter
If you are a boxing fan you’ve heard the term “phantom punch”. That’s a punch that seemingly comes out of nowhere and strikes a knockout blow. The Fighter is a “phantom punch”. It delivers a furious knockout and you never see it coming. The Fighter tells the true life story of Lowell (Mass) fighter, “Irish” Micky Ward, a tough as nails boxer who fought three epic battles in 2002 and 2003 with Arturro Gatti. (They fought three times and all three battles landed both fighters in the hospital.) Mark Wahlberg plays the lead character and Christian Bale, who’s almost unrecognizable, plays Micky’s half brother, Dicky. Dicky is a local hero in Lowell whose claim to fame is that he once knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard during his boxing career. (Some folks say Leonard slipped.)

In the movie Dicky is now a crack addict but still serves as “Irish” Micky’s trainer. When Micky gets a shot at the big time he has to make a decision to go against the family or stay with his team which includes his overbearing mother manager and his half brother crack addict trainer.There are some amazing performances in this film. The movie, Wahlberg and Bale have all earned Golden Globe nominations. In addition to the lead performances a group of highly skilled actresses play Micky’s “trailer park trash” sisters with uncanny accuracy. While The Fighter may draw some comparisons to the classic boxing movie, Rocky”, keep in mind…this is a TRUE story. The movie is rated “R” for violence, language and sexuality and on my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” it gets a JUMBO!.