Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 74 wins & 123 nominations total
- Phyllis 'Beaver' Eklund
- (as Kate O'Brien)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaChristian Bale got involved when Mark Wahlberg asked him to take part in the movie. Wahlberg and Bale knew each other through their daughters, who attended the same elementary school.
- GoofsMicky Ward is introduced before a fight as having 20 KOs. He defeats an opponent by KO, and then is introduced for a later fight as having only 20 KOs instead of 21.
- Quotes
Dickie Eklund: Are you like me? Huh? Was this good enough to fight Sugar Ray? Never had to win, did I? You gotta do more in there. You gotta win a title. For you, for me, for Lowell. This is your time, all right? You take it. I had my time and I blew it. You don't have to. All right? You fuckin' get out there, and use all the shit that you've been through, all that fuckin' hell, all the shit we've gone through over the fuckin' years, and you put it in that ring right now. This is yours. This is fuckin' yours.
- Crazy creditsThe real Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund are shown during the end credits.
- SoundtracksHow You Like Me Now?
Written by Kelvin Swaby, Dan Taylor, Spencer Page, Chris Ellul and Arlester Christian
Performed by The Heavy
Courtesy of Counter Records
For a very basic overview, The Fighter focuses on Ward (Mark Wahlberg), who is essentially a tomato can of a fighter being horribly mis-managed and held back by his family, most notably mother Alice (Melissa Leo). Despite some talent and a lot of heart, he can't seem to escape his low-class Boston roots. Nor can he escape the shadow of older brother Dickie Ecklund (Christian Bale), a former pro boxer turned crackhead. It is only after meeting Charlene (Amy Adams) that Mickey obtains the self-confidence to break away from his family and give his boxing career once last legitimate shot.
In terms of story/plot, The Fighter is relatively straightforward as sports films go. All the beats are fairly well choreographed and the underdog story is the main go-to thoroughfare. Not a bad approach, per se, but nothing all that remarkable (aside from the real-figure angle) either.
What make this a memorable film are a couple of acting performances. In a very real sense, one could call this Bale's film, as his Eckland is absolutely magnetic. Your eyes will be drawn to him in every scene. To perhaps a slightly lesser extent, Adams turns in a similarly great effort. She's the "voice of reason" in the midst of the Ward/Ecklund chaos and is equal parts supportive and feisty.
As good as those Bale/Adams performances are, in an odd way they also magnify the film's greatest flaw, that being a lack of a compelling protagonist. Wahlberg isn't a horrible actor, but he simply isn't in the same class as those around him here--and it shows. Perhaps playing to the real-life Ward had something to do with this as well. But the fact of the matter is that in a movie focusing on Ward, that performance is the weakest (or at very least most bland) of the bunch.
Overall, The Fighter is a solid boxing flick that is elevated to great in spurts thanks to some award-winning (literally in Bale's case) acting performances. Not necessarily an all-time classic, but not all that far away from it, either.
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $93,617,009
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $300,010
- Dec 12, 2010
- Gross worldwide
- $129,190,869
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1