Eye of the Tiger

I'm a big boxing fan. I don't know if that was an advantage or a disadvantage when approaching The Fighter. The Fighter is the story of 'Irish' Micky Ward; a man who is about as close to a real life Rocky Balboa as you are likely to encounter. A boxer of minimal talent but an over-abundance of heart and spirit.

I'm the one who's fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.

Ward's never say die, working class spirit made him the most televised fighter in boxing history. Ward was also involved in Ring magazine's fight of the year consecutively from 2001 to 2003. Memorable fights against Arturo Gatti are the highlights of Micky Ward's career and are widely acknowledged as proof that the sport of boxing still has a life to live. Ward opened a tanning salon in his home town after retiring from the sport and reportedly turned down a seven figure offer to return to the ring. Boxing lesson over.

Portrayed for film by Mark Wahlberg, Ward remains an engaging character throughout the piece and his struggles between family, partner and business are presented well enough for the viewer to experience genuine empathy for the character. Wahlberg and Bale have clearly gone to some extent to visually prepare for the film with Wahlberg bulking up for the part and Bale going to the other extreme.

If you follow my Twitter account you will probably be aware that I am not a big Christian Bale fan; by any sense of the imagination. However, I would struggle to fault his performance in this film. Playing the drug addicted older (half) brother of Ward, Dicky Eklund is the local town hero who fought, and lost to, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard. Dicky is a constant drain on Micky and his career but his redemption comes in his tactical awareness and advice which is priceless to Micky in the ring. Outwith this, Micky tolerates his brother only in the name of family. It is clear from the movie that family is important to Micky. He is loyal to the core, even at the expense of his career. This is apparent in the prolonged employment of his Mother as manager. Critical of all outwith the family, she arranges fights for Micky in the name of fast cash, and accuses others of disregarding her son's interests. The rest of Micky's family consists primarily of an immeasurable number of sisters who resemble the female cast of Jersey Shore gone eighties.

Going back to my enjoyment of the sport, and of course the Rocky series, I did feel slightly let down by the fight sequences in The Fighter. The manner in which the scenes were presented was faultless and extremely successful in recalling the look of the era (think early Mike Tyson on ESPN etc.) but the actual boxing was slightly unconvincing. I remember my Dad telling me that Carl Weathers could have been a boxer; you could tell by the way he moves his feet and threw a jab. The same could not be said of Wahlberg. The punching looked unnatural to a boxing purist but to the untrained eye posed no apparent issues. Maybe just a gripe of my own but I never pretended to be anything but a perfectionist.  

The film has received generally positive reviews and you can count this as another. It has received nomination for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. In my opinion the film is available for the enjoyment of both boxing and non-boxing fans alike. You can call it predictable but you have to remember it's a true story.

Official Site - http://www.thefightermovie.com