Review - The Fighter

It's not often that the main character of a film gets over shadowed by the supporting cast but it is the case with David O. Russell's The Fighter.

The film centres around 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.

Mark Whalberg plays Micky Ward the younger brother of the 'nearly made it' ex boxer Dickie Ekland played by Christian Bale. Dickie is a drug addict and is also Micky's trainer. Micky's manager is his mother (Melissa Leo) and with these two involved, Micky's career is going nowhere.



Bill and Ted in their 40s.



                                                                                            

The Fighter is a very watchable film, thanks largely to Bale and Melissa Leo. Their turns as the two most influential family members in Micky's life are fantastic (as the Oscar awards would prove), however it is these performances and that of a barely recognisable but amazing Amy Adams, that put the film at odds as Whalberg who does a fine job, is nowhere near the acting talents of the previous three mentioned and as such the film suffers when Whalberg has big scenes where he is the centre. Whalberg looks the part though and this pays off in the boxing scenes. A terrific supporting cast helps this film rise to places it wouldn't have.