Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Fighter - 燃燒鬥魂



The Fighter (燃燒鬥魂) is a 2010 film. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The supporting cast includes Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. The movie is a based on the life story of "Irish" Micky Ward, a professional boxer.

The movie focuses on the boxing career of Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg. Micky is a welterweight boxer and is training for an upcoming fight. You notice that there's a HBO crew following them around. The crew is there to shoot a documentary about Dicky Eklund, played by Christian Bale, Micky's brother. Micky's head trainer is Dicky and the manager is his mom, Alice played by Melissa Leo. They get to the fight to, but have to change plans and still fight to get the purse money. As the movie moves on, its the balance of family and professional career as a story that's presented. The story of Micky's relationship with Charlene is explored in regards to Micky and against his family.

The movie was an enjoyable watch. Embellished true stories seem to have that kind of effect on people. In the back of your mind, you're always thinking, this is true, it could have happened. I can see why a lot of people had this film in their top ten list from 2010. However, the movie was just ok for me. As the movie progress, I did not not feel an emotional attachment to Micky. Yes, he's trying to love his family and make ends meat. Yes, he trying to make good with his daughter and start fresh with Charlene. Yet, through it all, it was just a presentation of a story. The character development for Micky was very little and I was trying hard to connect. But the story started to get in the way. Dicky's descent into darkness was heart wrenching, but I was having a hard time caring. In all, a enjoyable movie that presented a nice embellished true story, but just didn't get me all that interested.



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