David O. Russell has quickly become one of cinemas most prominent writer/directors thanks to his 2012 and 2014 features Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Both received critical raves and massive box office, as well as vocal approval from this particular film critic. Both of those films, especially Hustle, are expertly made films, with excellent performances and thoughtful screenwriting. So I was eager to finally catch The Fighter, the movie made just before Russell reached his current popularity.
Sports stories are a tricky business; cliches have habit of running rampant in some of these screenplays, and they can just ruin any intended emotional impact of the victories or losses. Frankly, The Fighter engages in plenty of cliches, which isn't a bad thing on its own, but I did wish the script here was more innovative in the way it presented time worn conventions of sports movies. It doesn't surprise me that this is one of David O. Russell's few films that he did no write (three people are responsible for the script, among them Scott Silver) as it occasionally lacks the creativity that his two follow-up projects, which he did write, had in spades.
The good thing about this film though is that it primarily focuses on the relationship between Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his brother Dicky. Whenever Dicky comes on screen, the movie goes to a whole other level of quality, and most of that comes courtesy of the actor playing him; Christian Bale. Sweet Lord, Bale is incredible here. The way he plays Dicky as confident and happy despite the tragedy that has consumed his life is both heartwarming and gut-wrenching. As the film progresses, Dickys story just becomes more and more compelling, with one particular great moment being when he finally catches a documentary he was starring in.
Him and Wahlberg have this excellent chemistry together that makes their relationship as brothers seem natural, so it's a pity that there are numerous scenes where Dicky isn't on screen. Oh, the film doesn't go bad or anything, far from it. It still remains constantly entertaining, and many of the films boxing scenes were really well done. However, Mickeys plot of going from underdog to a major name in boxing is where the script indulges in a few too many cliches. The worst offender has to be a montage of Mickey getting into a streak of wins set to the tune of Aerosmiths "Back In The Saddle". As you can imagine, this particular plot point combined with that music is just sort of humorous rather than inspiring, and while that's really the worst of the films offenses, it's still a shame that they couldn't bring the brilliance behind Dickys story line to Mickeys time in the ring.
Wahlberg isn't anywhere near as good as Bale, but really, who could be? He does perfectly fine as a good o'l boy and is impressively believable in the boxing sequences. Despite an Oscar nomination being given for her work here, I was disappointed by Amy Adams in her role as Charlene, Mickeys girlfriend. She really doesn't get a ton to do, and I wish she had more personality to her. A scene at the end involving Dickey confronting her is the only real point where she gets to shine, and to her credit, Adams does what she can with a role that's only lackluster thanks to how poorly written it is.
I was impressed by the directing Russell puts in here, and I could even see hints of what he would accomplish three years later in the expertly done American Hustle in some of the films finest moments. It's also more than worth mentioning that while the script has flaws, the more emotional bits are done extremely well. I'm glad they made sure to put enough dark material in here, specifically in Mickeys crazy household (led by a pretty good, though sort of over-the-top Melissa Leo) which nicely grows throughout the film into a massive obstacle for the film. Unfortunately, some of that darker material does make the happy ending feel more forced, but Bales heavy involvement in the finale does mean it winds up being more than satisfactory. It's far from perfect, especially compared to what David O. Russell would make afterwards, but The Fighter is still a worthy watch that contains an extraordinary performance from Christian Bale.
No comments:
Post a Comment