Movie Review- The Fighter: Do I smell Oscar, or is that your crack pipe?

The Fighter. A simple title, and a simple summary: Good movie. That's about all that needs to be said. I am not a sports movie fan, not by a long shot, and I am in to boxing movies even less, but The Fighter is some kind of good.

The storyline, which is based on the true story of boxer Mickey Ward, at first doesn't really seem all that enchanting, it is a sports movie after all. The recycled theme of an underdog-turned-champ is present in this film. But the plot really goes far behind that. First of, the acting really set this movie above the rest. And when I say acting, I mean that of Chrisitan Bale. Bale plays Dicky Eklund, the crack-addicted, ex-boxer half-brother of Mark Wahlberg's Ward. If Bale doesn't get the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role, then I will officially declare the Oscars a sham. His performance alone I think makes watching this movie worthwhile. He nailed the working-class Irish-Boston accent, and was just spot on as a the jumpy, goofy, crack-addict Dicky. Even in appearance. If you look at photos of the the real Eklund and Bale in his role side by side, they are pretty damn close.I don't want to take anything away from the other actors though, even Mark Wahlberg, he of "Four Brothers" (this is Detroit, 'case y'all forgot!) fame, puts in a solid performance. Bale was just fantastic though. It is rare to see actors really get into their roles like Bale did, and it is most definitely deserving of praise, at least here on the Four Corners.

Despite, again, being a sports film, The Fighter still kept my interest throughout, though that may have been just because I wanted to keep watching Bale (for the record, I have a girlfriend, so no man-crush here, just recognizing fantastic acting). Towards the end though I did find myself rooting for Wahlberg's character, and I think that is a pretty good indication of both good acting and directing.

Again, sports films are usually down by horror films on my list of movie genres, but I think the sports bit was really just a background for The Fighter. You have to see it to know what I mean, but I think the struggle of Ward to cope with his incredibly dysfunctional family and crack-addicted brother all set in the economically-depressed Lowell, Massachusetts is the real story here. And it is a good one. There were a few cliched moments (fighter gets crap beaten out of him, then comes back, yeah heard it before) but, at least for me, it didn't take away from what ends up being a stellar film.

Verdict: See it. If anything, just see it for Bale's performance Grade: A

If you liked this movie you might like: Anything with Christian Bale in it. And no, not any other boxing films.