The Fighter (15)

I didn't want to see this film because the trailer made it look very predictable and unoriginal. The reason I ended up seeing it is that it ended up showing at my local cinema and was the only non kids film for abot 2 weeks (I live in Cornwall - land of no multiplexes), so was straving, Long story short, despite a predicatable story arc I thought the characterisation was sharp, the sisters, the mother, the gnarly Amy Adams, and even mark Walhberg who I generally thinks puts in weak performances. His whiney schtick really worked in this though. Christian Bale was predictably good but I wasn;t expecting him to be funny which was a plus. There was a lot of humour in this film. This and the details of the neighbourhood (Lowell, Boston) and the characters made it very watchable... Not the unwanted WRESTLER clone I expected it to be...

I caught one of the previews of this brilliant movie last weekend in the local cinema and was completely blown away by the acting of the whole cast and not just Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo who were of course all outstanding in their respective roles. One of the best movies of 2010/2011 as far as I am concerned together with The King's Speech, Black Swan, Winter's Bone, The Social Network and True Grit!

Average movie, Bale was excellent. Wahlberg was poor! True story or not this was always going to be compared to 'Rocky'. I think that's why Bale's character was so funny. However I did enjoy it at times and it is definatley worth a watch. Good Film!

Worth seeing for Christian Bale's wacky, messed-up & often hilarious performance. Rest of the film sadly is fairly average. Wahlberg is quite lame in this and the family feuding quickly becomes tiresome; the mother figure being especially irritating and not very believable. The fight sequences are a bit daft as most of the time the boxers fight without moving, like statues. However, Bale's acting as the screwed-up crackhead brother 'Mickey' is hysterically good and easily steals the show.

This film is just charming, sweeps you along

amazing film actors are absolutely fantastic (amy adams irresistible).

For once I find myself agreeing with TIMEOUT. I'm a huge Mark Wahlberg fan but I found him to be weak in this film. Perhaps the problem with 'The Fighter' is that Bale's performance is so brilliant that it eclipses everything else, even the fight scenes. It is a likeable film with the best intentions and I do advise going to see it, even if for Bale's performance alone but I can't help thinking that without Bale the film would have been quite tedious. Wahlberg seems to sleep through his role and at time seems awkward in character - this may very well be the role he's meant to play but on film it disrupts the flow of the film and the contrasting in acting as the reviewer mentioned DOES sometimes lend the film to a jerkiness in narrative that doesn't work at times. The issue that bothered me the most was that whilst Wahlberg seemed to be a pensive, slow burner of a character the music in many cases didn't fit the scene. Perhaps a more brooding, introspective soundtrack would have been more fitting - it seemed that his character internalised a lot of his pain with his family / his situation and a 'rocky' type rock soundtrack just didn't work. Saying all of this it's always enjoyable to see Wahlberg on the screen and the final scene with Bale was the most moving 20 seconds of the film, he deserves an Oscar nod in my opinion.

The ratings given to a film are always relative so, after being bored stupid by The Hereafter and patronised by The King's Speech (I have a stammer too) my hopes were up for The Fighter and, in my opinion, it floors the other two films in straight knock outs. Who can resist a boxing pun, eh? Certainly not me. I found the film to be a revelation and I can't find any reason to give it less than 5 stars. Watch Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund online and the way they're portrayed in this movie is spot on. Dicky is in your face, Micky is reserved, to play it any other way wouldn't tell the story. The boxing scenes bleed realism, the crack smoking scenes glow with despondency and the whole bullying scene around Micky would make anybody want to hit someone. No wonder he took up boxing with a family like that. A great film and if Christian doesn't get an Oscar for his portrayal of Dicky Eklund he'll have every right to feel cheated. Mark Wahlberg punches way above his weight (sorry) returning to the acting form that saw him become famous with Boogie Nights. If you don't see this film you'll miss a treat. Forget the over-hyped monarchophilic King's Speech, this is the film of the moment that shows how someone overcame overwhelming odds to achieve great things. On the use of 'Overwhelming'\ has anybody ever been 'whelmed'?

Like Rocky on crack. This film is like long burning firecracker. Bale steals the film hands down and should win an Oscar. The sound of this film in the first hour is nothing less than sensational. Whalberg plays it a little too safe for my liking and the boxing scenes lacked adrenaline. The sisters were clearly not pro actors but were a scary bunch nontheless. Well worth 3 stars +.

I highly value historical accuracy when dealing with movies relating to true stories, being an old school slugger, boxing and mickey ward fan make me somewhat biast but I thought this was class !!! Get on youtube type ward Vs gatti round 9, arguably one of the greatest in boxing history. Back to the movie, class acting as in the point was to portray the real people as they are. .. Hope they make a the fighter two with the gatti trilogy involved 10 out of 10