Monday, August 30, 2010

The Wrestler: Comeback Film For Mickey Rourke

By Mark Nixon

If you haven't seen the Wrestler yet, what are you waiting for? Don't you think it's at the top of everyone's movie downloads queue for a reason? Actually, you're probably sick of hearing about the movie at this point, so why not just watch the darn thing and get it over with?

Rourke's performance is the heart, the soul and the body of the film. He takes some real bumps and went through training to actually learn how to wrestle. That's really him in the ring. He had a stunt double for a few shots, but for the most part, that's really him. Randy the Ram is an incredible and very human character.

Randy's lifestyle has been self destructive, and it's cost him everything. He's paying the price, having lost touch with his daughter, and while he and the boys at the locker room are always close, he really doesn't have any true, close friends.

The movie will rip your heart out, showing Randy as he is in a light that it as once both humane, and unforgiving. He's not given a pass for the mistakes he's made, but he's shown as a real human being, whose feelings are valid. He's made mistakes, but that doesn't make him a monster, and he's shown in a loving light, if not an always flattering one.

Again, Rourke really knocks it out of the park. The movie is just as much Rourke's story as it is Randy's. It's interesting to note, Nicholas Cage almost had this role, but actually passed on it so that his friend Rourke could have the opportunity.

Without Cage, they had to settle on a smaller budget, but the end result is a much smaller, more intimate film. Rourke wrestles for crowds of maybe a hundred people at a time, giving his all to each and every performance and bleeding it out for the fans.

The story is an old one, the characters are stock, but it never feels cliche or predictable. The movie is invested with such real humanity that it really feels like a unique, one of a kind tale of loss and redemption. Even if you weren't so big on Pi and Requiem for a Dream, this may be Darren Aronofsky's masterpiece, and it certainly shows a deeper level of humanity than his previous efforts.

The movie manages to warm your heart and break it at the same time. It's something like Rocky meets Raging Bull in the world of sports movies, and the ending carries a double meaning. We won't spoil it for you, but it's worth a moment of reflection after the acoustic Bruce Springsteen song plays out over the end credits.

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