Like its battered, beleaguered central hero, this boxing biopic takes a few rounds to really get going. But when it does, it’s a rousing, compassionate, bare-knuckled ride powerful enough to score a KO, while Bale, Wahlberg, Leo and Adams are all award-worthy excellent.
Dare I say it, it’s knockout?
The Fighter might tread the well-worn route of almost every sports movie before it, but two very different but equally powerful performances combine to deliver an exhilarating fight-flick that, like its scrappy central character, is impossible not to root for.
Bale and Leo are the firecracker performers here, yet Wahlberg's low-key internal performance as a stubbornly gentle pugilist is the engine that drives this rousing film.
The film bounces us from one pugilistic or domestic affray to the next, only coming to a near-standstill whenever Wahlberg gets acting space.
Comparisons with another underdog sports movie, The Wrestler, are inevitable and not unfair.
It’s all done with such vigour, humour, and heart, that you can forgive the stumbles into cliché.
Powerful boxing drama should punch its way to some Oscar glory.
The Fighter follows a trusted formula but struggles to deliver a knock-out punch.
'The Fighter' is a B movie on boxing.
Despite all those Oscar nominations, and awards-season excitement, The Fighter is no more than the sum of its parts, and actually has a TV-movie feel. It tries very hard to make you love it: it's a fighter all right.
A terrific sports movie that has hardly any sport in it.
It's flintier and more complex than Rocky, more resembling Raging Bull with its flawed, not-so-likeable characters.
No knockout but a winner on points.
The Fighter strikes a blow for film-making that engages on a cerebral and a gut level.
This is a frighteningly funny, oddly touching movie that never flinches from or attempts to sentimentalise the grotesquely embarrassing Dicky or to turn Micky into a liberated spirit.
The Fighter has an honest, uncluttered cleanness, but plenty of oomph too.
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The Fighter KOs the sports-movie cliches
Interview: Melissa Leo, The Fighter actress
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General release. Check local listings for show times.
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