The Fighter is a true story about Mickey Ward, an American former professional boxer that stars Mark Wahlberg (The Perfect Storm, The Departed) and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Rises, American Psycho). Dickie Eklund, Mickey’s older brother of nine years, taught his younger sibling everything he knew about the sport. The film is directed by David O’Russell, who has to his credits two other movies starring Mark Wahlberg (I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings). The backdrop for the film is the streets of Lowell, Massachusetts, a blue-collar, rundown town where everybody is interested in everyone else’s business, and addiction is rampant.

Mickey and Dickie couldn’t be any different from each other. Dickie is a cocaine-addicted loose cannon who would do anything on earth for his brother but who has a paralyzing drug habit which makes him unreliable. Dickie’s claim to fame was going the distance and knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard during a highly publicized and watched fight in 1978. Dickie, referred to in the movie as “The Pride of Lowell,” went the distance against Leonard but lost the fight in a unanimous decision. Dickie accumulated a career record of 19-10 over ten years.

An HBO crew documents Dickie’s 1993 attempted comeback at the age of 40, and this is where the movie begins. Bale brings to life the character of Dickie. He’s rail-thin, quirky, reckless, and overly protective of Mickey. We see Dickie at his best and his worst, and Bale has us sympathize with his character one minute and shake our heads at him another.

While it is Dickie’s story that the HBO crew is out to document, it is Mickey who proves to be the member of the family with a future as a boxer. Once thought of as a stepping stone for other fighters, he’s out to prove he’s got one last run at winning the welterweight championship of the world. He’s disciplined, in top physical form, and competes in the squared circle for all the right reasons.

Amy Adams stars as Mickey’s girlfriend, a local bartender who herself squandered opportunities in her life. She’s brash and not afraid to take on Dickie, Mickey’s mother, manager, or any of Mickey’s seven sisters. Mickey is at his best when he is with her, and she helps convince him he is better off without Dickie. Mickey knows his brother has let him down, but he is unwilling to admit that he is “better without him.”

Whalberg does an excellent job of bringing the title character to light, but Bale steals the show. His range as an actor has never been better. One second, he’s goofing around with his brother at the training gym; the next, he’s jumping out of a window in a cocaine house. He never gets caught in what might have been, but you can see in his eyes how disappointed he is in himself for throwing away what might have been.

There have indeed been hundreds of sports movies about a down-and-out star or team overcoming adversity to achieve a dream. As a result, it makes it extra hard for a film to get the audience on board and believe in the story. Through the direction, the storytelling, and, most importantly, the acting, we believe in The Fighter and cheer for the characters to succeed.

Plot 10/10
Character Development 10/10
Character Chemistry 10/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 9/10
Directing 9.5/10
Cinematography 9.5/10
Sound 8.5/10
Hook and Reel 8.5/10
Universal Relevance 8.5/10
93.5%