The Fighter

The Fighter is one of those films that didn't dazzle me until the second half, which is always the more important half for me. The beginning was just bland, but, like I said, the second half was better, especially the last fight. Christian Bale (whom I'll probably never come to like) played his role quite well, and from the female cast I have to single out Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. In short, it's not up for a Best Picture Oscar, no question about that, but the Bald Man would be a good fit in the hands of any of the actors (3 chances). (21/02/2011)

In crack fumes and in the smell of peroxide on boxing Olympus. The sympathetic, if inconsistent, synthesis of the Royck genre film with family-social drama, which has little idea which side to be on more, and thereby prefers to do the sure thing. Thanks to Bale and a very juicy finale, sympathy wins above all, although the question of why Aronofsky reached for a more effective grease from Tchaikovsky continues to bother me. The Fighter is simply a more modest and sympathetic substance. And not just because it's got balls. (21/02/2011)

Bale turned his supporting role into the main role. Marky Mark plays the dime-a-dozen boxer that this story revolves around, but Bale enjoys playing Dicky to the very full, while not forgetting to respect him as a person. Great swathes of this movie rely on him alone and some moments are memorable only due to him. David O. Russell is another ace up the Fighter’s sleeve and drives the movie forward. The final fight is precisely balanced, the family wrangling disappears in the abyss of time and the actors help overcome some of the clichéd passages. (05/03/2011)

A decent boxing movie starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. I'm actually surprised I didn't get it sooner. It's mostly a drama about two brothers who have family problems and one of them is addicted to crack, but when Wahlberg gets in the ring, it's mostly something to watch. The final fight in particular was excellent. I enjoyed it, but it lacked the emotional impact to make a full count. There have been better pieces, but this one certainly doesn't fall short. 80%. (30/08/2018)

A family drama (in the sense of a “drama about a family” rather than a “drama for the whole family”) that is pulled out of mediocrity only by the excellent Christian Bale (in a role similar to the one he played in Harsh Times). Fighter is a psychologically believable and, in terms of acting, focused film that doesn’t bring anything new to the genre of intimate relationship movies and doesn’t offer any moments of a more dramatic nature. Mark Wahlberg’s role suits him due to his real-life background, but the film rather needed a real actor in the mold of Bale for that role. (28/11/2011)