THE FIGHTER
5 out of 5 stars

WOW!!! this was the christian bale show, and i am just MIND-BLOWN by how much great acting this movie has!!! BRAVO, CHRISTIAN BALE!!! BRAVO!!! :) :) :)

based on a true story, david o. russell (director of three kings and i heart huckabees) gives us the candid and raw portrayal of a boxer named “irish” micky ward (mark wahlberg) and his crazy muthafucker junkie of a big bro dicky ecklund. (2010 oscar winner christian bale) the movie takes place in early 1990s/late 80s massachussetts in a town called lowell (40 min. outside of boston accord. to google maps), and dicky and micky are considered town heroes. their family is HUGE...consisting of 9 (holy cow!) children, and dicky is micky’s trainer and alice is his manager. alice ward is a CRAZY lady, and oscar winner melissa leo plays her sooooo naturally esp. in scenes when she’s trying to be a mother to micky, instead of the manager role. micky is down on his luck with a losing streak until he decides to change things up and get “rid” of his brother and mother. he’s torn between them and his GF charlene (boston-accented amy adams) and his father, who convince him to train with a real trainer since dicky is constantly MIA (well, smokin’ that crack pipe). well, one day his wish comes true when dicky is busted for assaulting a bunch of cops/resisting arrest and lands his crack-addicted ass in jail... the rest of the movie is very rocky-esque, so you get my drift... ;)

like i said, this quickly becomes the christian bale show becuz he dominates as a gifted actor. there isn’t one moment that makes you doubt the character, and it’s AMAZING how he lost all that weight to play the skeletal dick ecklund. that’s what makes him so great b/c he’s so dedicated to his craft! it’s amazing... plus, that accent! the man is welsh for christ’s sake, so for him to do a great american accent PLUS a dialect?! that’s skillz... i really don’t think this movie wouldn’t have gotten very far b/c w/o those two, this is just another boxer movie. they truly make this one worthwhile, and i’m glad they both got the oscar gold they deserve. like they say in boxing, KO (knockout) performances for sure... :)