Fighter, The

David O. Russell made one of the best movies of my lifetime “Three Kings.” It is one of most underrated films of the last 20 years. He followed it up with one of the most pretentious films I’ve ever seen “I Heart Huckabees”. I’ve been waiting for him to make a movie that could redeem him in my eyes, and I thought “The Fighter” might be it. When I first saw the trailer for “The Fighter,” I was literally shocked by how awesome it looked. Purely based on the trailer I thought that it had to be one of the best movies of the year. And then I saw it…

“The Fighter” is based on the true story of boxer Micky Ward and his relationship with his drug addicted brother, as he struggles to get a title fight. It’s rare that I see a sports movie I don’t like. I love them! Sports movies have all the inherent drama of real sports made even more dramatic for the big screen, so what’s not to like? The problem with “The Fighter” is that, frankly, it was pretty boring. And while it did not meet my expectations, it is not without merit. While I’m sure Mark Wahlberg put his body through extreme circumstances, he wasn’t very convincing in this role. I can’t recall if the expression on his face changed the whole movie, he just looked and acted like Mark Wahlberg. On the other hand, Christian Bale was brilliant. Christian Bale does an amazing job as Ward’s crack addict brother. Amy Adams was good, but since she is so smoking hot in real life I was really disappointed that they trashed her up to such an extreme degree for the film.

The directing is fine, but unremarkable compared with such an amazing film like “Three Kings.” I wonder if Russell will ever be able to live up to his own film. The most interesting parts are the fight scenes that are shot using the same cameras that they use to televise the fights, which heightens the realism. I’m told by a close friend and boxing enthusiast that the seminal fight in Micky Ward’s career was against Arturo Gatti, and unfortunately none of those fights even make it into the film. It’s not a bad film at all, its good, but it’s just not as good as it should have been.