The Fighter

The Fighter wants to be a lot of things. The new Rocky. A comeback for David O. Russell. A weight-losing, method-acting showpiece for Christian Bale. The authentic bean-town drama. For the most part, it succeeds. However, and I’m sorry to be such a slave to story structure, but when the hero wins the big fight and you have this empty feeling inside, that’s a problem. The Fighter is a very good movie, there’s no doubt. But it lacks a eureka moment. A resolution. An epiphany that sums up the movie’s purpose, or the purpose of the characters journey, or the reason why the people in the audience paid to watch it. It’s more or less a straightforward biopic, but Russell and company split time between Wahlberg’s Mickey Ward and Christian Bale’s Dickey Eklund with mixed results. The acting is strong from both players, and their on screen-bond is strong, but their journey feels unfinished and dissatisfying. It’s worth seeing for the performances, but nobody cuts off their own arm and sometimes you need that, story-wise.