Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - April, 2011

"The Fighter" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by Chris Heinonen

Synopsis

Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a fairly average boxer whos brother, Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), is also a former fighter who’s claim to fame is having knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in a bout.  Trained by his brother and managed by his mother Alice (Melissa Leo), Mickey has the deck stacked against him while he tries to do the right thing.  His brother is a good trainer and very smart tactician, but also is a raging crack addict who is completely unreliable for anything.  Alice tries to get a good fight for Mickey, but also would rather see him in a losing fight that makes the family money than to see him hold out for something to further his career.

Charlene (Amy Adams) is tending bar as Mickey is getting ready to head off to his next fight.  Mickey’s Dad helps to get the two of them together, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family who sees Charlene as a trampy, MTV-girl who went to college and must have a superiority complex over them.  With another voice coming along to help Mickey see that he’s hurting himself by trying to help his family, will Mickey make some changes in his life to help move his career forward?

Commentary

One of the more acclaimed films of 2010, The Fighter is a boxing film, but is really a character drama at the heart.  If you don’t like boxing you should still see the movie as it’s all about the relationships of the characters, who are far deeper and more nuanced than you would expect from a film in the sports genre.  With absolutely stunning performances from Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, who both took home an Oscar for their work, it really is a wonderful film to watch.

Technical

Watching The Fighter, I really don’t have anything bad to say about the image at all.  Everything was clear and detailed, and the only scenes that looked less than ideal were the ones that were designed to look like an HBO broadcast from a decade ago.  The audio also holds it’s own with an enveloping soundtrack and wonderful use of surrounds to create ambiance in all the scenes.  The only issue was a couple scenes where the dialog was a bit muted compared to the other sound effects, but for the most part it was very good.

Extras

A commentary track from the director, two featurettes, deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, and a DVD copy of the film are included.

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