The Fighter
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4.0 (1) |
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| MPAA Rating | R |
| Director | David O. Russell |
"A look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s." --IMDB
Based on a true story.
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Average user rating from: 1 user(s)
Brother against brother, girlfriend against mother
| Overall: | 4.0 |
January 06, 2011
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The Fighter, a movie that is more about family than sports, is rich with mimetic rivalry. Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a young boxer who keeps losing matches. His older brother and coach, Dicky (Christian Bale), used to be a boxing contender, and is locally famous (in Lowell, MA) for having once knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard. Their mother Alice (Melissa Leo) dotes on the older son, manages Micky's career, and houses her seven daughters. The obvious conflict at the beginning of the film is Dicky's crack addiction, which is interfering with his younger brother's boxing career.
When Micky's new girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams) challenges him that his family is in the way of his career, the dysfunction crescendos, and doubles emerge: older vs. younger brother, girfriend vs. mother.
Will they be able to overcome the bondage of mimetic rivalry in order to achieve what they really desire?
All of the principal actors deliver standout performances, in a gritty tale that will leave many viewers both identifying and being amazed at the behavior of people who use each other for self-validation.
I won't spoil the ending, but it is a true story, so don't look up the characters if you want to be surprised.