The Fighter

I need to say right up front that I liked the fighter. Its a satisfactory sports film that features strong performances (from Christian Bale and Amy Adams in particular) and delivers a generally entertaining story. That preamble was necessary because the next paragraph is going to make it sound like I'm much more down on the film than I actually am.

Most of my disappointment stems from the fact that I had such high expectations going in. Expectations driven mainly by the presence of the director - David O. Russel. Russel has made a career making quirky, darkly funny, movies (Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, I heart huckabees) and I was anxious to see how he would apply his sensibility to the sports genre. Therefore when he delivered what is very much a conventional sports film I felt a little let down. Like I alluded to before, he executes those conventions at a higher level than most sports films (the cast helps) and the whole thing is generally entertaining (though it seems to be getting a little overrated in the press). I was just hoping for great and ended up with good.

Miscellany:

-The boxing scenes were fine, though nothing special. I couldn't get a sense of whether or not Whalberg could really box because of the way they shot it, he wasn't distractingly bad though which is generally the best you can hope for.

-The one performance that has been overrated is Melissa Leo's as the mother. The character is generally one note and broad, and her seven daughters exist solely to fulfill every 'Bawston' stereotype known to man. It doesn't kill the film but did feel a little out of place.

-I was a little surprised they didn't climax with Mickey Ward's fights against Arturo Gatti, those are what really put him on the map.