While the plot in “The Fighter†takes a road that’s been traveled many times before, what makes it worth seeing is what the cast brings to it. Although Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale have résumés that are pretty solid, “The Fighter†also has performances from Amy Adams and Melissa Leo going for it, and since the film is wise enough to give all four the screen time they deserve, the drama at its disposal is that much more effective. The movie might have obligations as a biopic to let what really happened dictate where the action goes, but the cast understands that how these characters feel is every bit as important as what they do.
The subject of this biopic, by the way, is Mickey Ward (Wahlberg), who grew up in the shadow of once-famous half brother Dicky Eklund (Bale). Before his addiction to drugs brought about his downfall, Dicky was a boxer who became a local celebrity in his hometown of Lowell, Mass., which, like the rest of the world, was quick to forget him. His mother Alice (Leo), who used to be his manager in the old days, grooms Mickey to pick up where his brother left off, signing him up for fights at big-time venues. Although he puts a lot of effort into each match, folks in the industry dub him a “stepping stone†– one of those guys up-and-coming fighters go through before moving on to bigger things.
There’s a sense that Dicky and Alice see Mickey as a package for his brother’s ambitions, and when romance enters Mickey’s life in the form of a bartender named Charlene (Adams), we can tell she has his best interests at heart when she says he should tell them to take a hike and work with new people. For all the brutality he suffers in the ring, some of the movie’s most intense moments come when Charlene and Alice are in the same place at the same time.
Between Bale’s low-rent drawl and emaciated build, he finds so much depth in Dicky’s world of drugs and hookers that the film doesn’t have to spend much time explaining the kind of life he lives, and his performance is probably the strongest here. Adams’ Charlene might not have the same burden to bear, but she’s still a person capable of having desires and fears instead of just being a cheerleader for Mickey.
The bravest performances, though, come from Wahlberg and Leo. There’s so little to admire about Leo’s character that you’d think she would’ve given her some redemptive qualities just to save grace, but she’s willing to irritate audiences if that’s what it takes to make Alice believable. As for Wahlberg, he makes Mickey seem too neutral to pass for a hero when we meet him, but Wahlberg knows an underdog story doesn’t work unless you make it clear that nobody becomes a champion overnight.
This article originally appeared on AllMediaNy.com
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