The Fighter (2010)

This film is the true story of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his older brother Dicky Eklund.

Boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) lives in Lowell Massachusetts and is being trained by his older half brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) who is a boxer in his own right having once fought Sugar Ray Leonard. While Dicky is training Micky, he is being trailed by a camera crew from HBO that is filming Dicky for a documentary about his life. Unfortunately Micky is what the boxing world calls a "stepping stone" meaning a boxer that is used by other boxers to beat so that they can advance. Another unfortunate issue is that Dicky is a crack addict and he often doesn't follow through on his obligations such as making it to training sessions on time.

When Micky has a scheduled fight and the other fighter is ill, a replacement is found but he is significantly heavier than Micky and Micky isn't sure that he wants to fight him. His mother Alice (Melissa Leo), who is also his manager, wants him to do it because of the money. Micky loses and is embarrassed. While at a bar, Micky falls for a bartender named Charlene (Amy Adams). After a while, Alice arranges another fight for Micky, but he isn't sure he wants to do it. Alice and the family blame Charlene for her influence which sets off conflict for most of the rest of the film. Micky gets an opportunity to go to Las Vegas to train and get paid for it in Las Vegas, but Dicky insists that he will come up with money to match it. To get this money Dicky begins running a scam that includes impersonating a police officer and gets caught. When Mickey hears and runs over to try to help his brother, he gets caught in the middle, his hand gets broken and Dicky goes to jail.

While in jail, the HBO documentary is screened and they see that the documentary was actually about Dicky's drug use and is called "High On Crack: Lost Lives In Lowell" and talks about how crack ruined his life. Devastated, Dicky finds the strength to push himself to get his life together while in prison. In the meantime, Micky finds that he has a chance with a new team to help him with his boxing as long as he can separate himself from Alice and Dicky. Before a bout, Micky visits Dicky in prison and Dicky gives him some boxing advice. Micky thinks that he is only giving him the advice for himself and disregards it. At the actual fight, Micky finds himself getting beaten and decides go with his brothers suggestions and wins.

When Dicky gets out of prison, he expects that he will jump right in with Micky's training and he, as well as Alice, are told that they can't participate. This causes a huge fight on both sides of Micky and he angers Charlene as well. Dicky stomps off to where he used to do drugs with his friends and says goodbye to them. He goes to Charlene's house and says that they have to work together for Micky's sake. Everything works out and Micky goes to London and his title bout.

This film was really good. The acting was extraordinary and the movie was nominated for best picture. Christian Bale won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for his role as Dicky Eklund. Melissa Leo won the Oscar as his mother and Amy Adams was also nominated for her role as Charlene.

Christian Bale's performance was especially good. Here is an Englishman born in Wales that must pull off a crack addicted guy with a Massachusetts accent and does just that. Many people are astounded that he has an English accent. You can check out some of his other films including one of his earliest "Empire Of The Sun" from when he was just 13. He has also played Batman and has been in "The Machinist", "American Psycho" and "Terminator Salvation". Melissa Leo also stirred up a bit of controversy when she marketed herself to win the Oscar when it is traditionally done by the studios.

114 Minutes. Rated R. I GIVE THIS FILM THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.