I’ve finally found the first “award buzzing” movie of 2014 that has lived up to its hype. While there have certainly been a handful of other films that I’ve found to be good, there hasn’t been a movie, except for maybe Nightcrawler, that has lived up to the hope I had for the movie. That has certainly changed with Bennett Miller’s (Moneyball, Capote) methodical and engrossing Foxcatcher. While this movie isn’t for everybody, film purists will love it. This movie will likely garner a Best Director Academy Award and, without a doubt, will land Steve Carell (Crazy, Stupid, Love., Date Night) his first Best Actor nomination. In addition, mark Ruffalo (Reservation Road, Shutter Island) likely will also earn a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. And not to be lost is the performance of Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street), who gives the performance of his career. This film’s three of the best performances of the year can be viewed alone.

Based on the true story, Foxcatcher tells the story of gold medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), his older and more accomplished brother David (Ruffalo), and oddball multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell). Du Pont convinces a depressed and broke Mark. The latter spends his days training for the Olympics and trying to do whatever he can to earn enough money for a meal to move to his massive estate and pay him a salary to train for the upcoming world competition and the 1988 Olympics. Won over by his kindness and generosity, Mark chooses to block out some initial reservations about du Pont, specifically how bizarre he seems to be. Instead, he sees this as an opportunity to excel. He’ll have access to better equipment to train with. He will get to pick his team. He will get paid a salary, meaning he can focus more of his time on training. And he will get to eat meals that don’t consist of face food burgers or Ramen noodles. It seems easy for Mark, even though he cannot convince David to move out to du Pont’s Foxcatcher Farm training facility with him.

Mark quickly realizes that Foxcatcher Farms is not like any other training facility he’s ever seen, and du Pont is unlike any other man he’s ever met. Upon his arrival, Mark is forced to go through a comprehensive background check, is told where and where he cannot go on the estate and is given a video to watch on the history of the du Pont family. The du Pont family started to make its fortune in the early 1800s by forming a chemical company that was initially founded as a gunpowder mill. John inherited all of his money through a line of succession, and it is unclear if he’s actually worked or just devoted his life to his hobbies (one of which is bird watching). He’s a competition enthusiast who has never had the skill to compete. He sees himself as a coach, mentor, and friend even when he has never been a coach, mentor, or had any friends in his past. Not everything functions perfectly in du Pont’s mind. Insecurities drive him. In the movie, his mental illness isn’t explicitly stated, but it’s apparent to everyone that he is mentally unstable. Mental instability and unlimited money don’t seem like they could ever be a good match.

Either directly or indirectly, Du Pont uses his money, power, and influence to win over Mark, getting the young wrestler to call Du Pont his mentor and father he never had. He also gets him to do things Mark would never have imagined doing alone. Mark wants to please du Pont. He knows that the only reason he is there is so that he can earn medals for the man. Du Pont knows all the right buttons to push with Mark. While this is the essence of the story (the story of du Pont driving Mark into madness), it happens too quickly for me. This was the main flaw of the movie. You could see the seeds laid down by du Pont. That part was done well. But Mark’s reactions to du Pont’s psychological tactics don’t progress correctly. He loses it too quickly. He goes from loving this man and wanting to do everything for him to hating him and refusing to have a conversation with him. And while the reasons are apparent, Mark goes from loving to hating too quickly. This was the biggest problem in the movie for me.

As for the performances, as I mentioned above, they were mesmerizing. Carell will do plenty of more comedies in his career, but at least for me, I will always have this performance in the back of my head. This performance was perfect. There was nothing flawed about it. Each scene with Carell was uncomfortable to watch, and the scenes became more and more uncomfortable as the movie progressed. He is so unbalanced that you aren’t sure what he will do next. Even when he is off on the side saying nothing, it’s still uncomfortable. His nonverbals in this movie were just as good, if not better than his verbals. He has no grip on reality and is entirely unaware of it at times. This makes him all the more dangerous. His performance, without a doubt, will earn him an Oscar nomination. At the time of this post, I believe he is the front-runner to win.

I haven’t mentioned Ruffalo much in this review, but he was fantastic as Mark’s positive, upbeat, and protective brother. His energy is contagious, and you feel better when he is on screen. He is likely to earn a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. It’s too early for me to determine if his performance is among the five best of the year. I imagine it will be, but it’s too early to say. Tatum was cast perfectly as the central protagonist. He’s a good guy who went astray. Unfortunately, I think his other two strong performances from the two more established actors get lost because of the other two strong performances. He’s excellent but will get a little overlooked because the other two performances are just wow-worthy.

I thought Foxcatcher was a fantastic movie that lived up to its hype. I also understand that it is not for everyone. It is very, very slow at times. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. However, I could see the pace as too slow for some viewers. Also, wrestling serves as the backdrop, but I don’t know if I’d call it a sports movie. Football served as a backdrop to The Blind Side, but I wouldn’t have called that a sports movie because, if I recall correctly, not even a single current scene in that movie is on the football field. There is lots of wrestling in Foxcatcher, so I’m leaning on calling it a sports movie. It is more of a psychological thriller, though. It is a deep character study and has terrific performances. You’ll undoubtedly forget you are watching funnyman Carell on screen.

Plot 10/10
Character Development 10/10
Character Chemistry 10/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 9/10
Directing 9/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 9.5/10
Universal Relevance 8.5/10
94%

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• Whiplash
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• This Boy’s Life