The Fighter – Bale and Wahlberg shine in a surprisingly fresh boxing drama

After Raging Bull, Cinderella Man, Ali, Rocky and many more, does the world need another boxing movie? Especially one that is about redemption for a washed up has-been and his brother? The answer is a huge, massive yes. The Fighter takes boxing as its theme, but actually – boxing fans should be told – contains very few fighting sequences. Instead it’s a wonderfully fresh, complex look at the nightmare of being in a family – especially one where the mother holds sway.

Mark Wahlberg is Mickey Ward, the fighter in question, a struggling athlete who has two battles, his career, which seems to be heading south, and his trailer trash family. Mum Alice (Leo, Oscar-nominated) rules the roost over her nine children, seven of whom are girls who squabble and fight like badly-dressed overweight Barbie dolls. Mickey’s brother Dicky (Bale) is a former champion, a naturally gifted fighter who once put down Sugar Ray Leonard but whose life is now falling apart. He is a crack addict, his skinny, wasted frame and hollow eyes doing nothing more than haunting a local crack house.

Officially he is Mickey’s trainer but his fecklessness, and Alice’s naivety, means Mickey suffers a bad beating when he gets a fight in Las Vegas. On the brink of quitting, Mickey’s life begins to turn around when he meets local barmaid Charlene (Adams), who’s working-class but determined better herself. After a marvellously awkward first date – a trip to see La Belle Epoque no less – they get serious, and Charlene takes on Mickey’s family, insisting he ditch them.

Mickey agrees, and when Dicky ends up in prison the deal seems to be done – Mickey will go to Las Vegas full time to train and leave his family behind. However he soon realises that blood might be thicker than water and he needs Dicky to help him get a crack at the title fight he craves.

THE FIGHTER TRAILER

It’s a classic set-up, but where The Fighter raises itself above the lightweight to punch above its weight is in the script, unusual theme and spot-on detail. All the characters look staple ones on paper but the script refuses to simplify them, insisting that every one acts for a reason, not always rationally. Mickey is a sympathetic character but incapable of seeing himself apart from his family, who are clearly dragging him down, yet his loyalty to his hopeless, crack-addled brother is touching and believable.

It’s to Wahlberg’s huge credit that he is behind the film yet happy to give the show-off part to Bale, who will surely win an Oscar for his marvellous portrayal of a ghost of a man, a former great boxer reduced to a shell of a body, still holding court in his neighbourhood for former glories and capable of helping his brother. It’s a great piece of acting, but Wahlberg is just as good if less showy. Adams too is spot-on, and her argument with Dicky on her porch is a masterpiece of pin-sharp dialogue – funny, sweary, sad and moving all within three minutes.

Dicky’s final speech to Mickey in the film’s last fight sequence is amazing – it’s corny, clichéd yet utterly real and totally inspiring – if it doesn’t move you you’ve seen Rocky too many times.

The film’s design and look is spot-on – everyone wears grubby, cheap clothes, the bars are poorly lit, the gyms sweaty, but the hope is always there in flashes of great beauty.

Overall verdict: You might think you’ve seen enough boxing movies, but make room in your heart for one more – it’s a real heavyweight.

Reviewer: Mike Martin