After reading many critic reviews, I knew there would be more drama in "The Fighter" but I didn't expect it to be a slow paced melodramatic noncompetitive, monotonous flick! The four of us competitors decided to see the movie thinking we would gain some competitive aspirations. After the first fifteen minutes, we were looking at each other realizing the star was Christian Bale, who captivated our attention in his crack head role as Dicky, a useless trainer to his brother, a Welterweight champion, Micky Ward. I must say, as competitors we were disappointed in Mark Wahlberg’s passive submissive role to his useless family and his lack of internal drive with a competitive focus. He was a wimp, a follower!
However, I realized after leaving the movie there were some take home messages. The most profound message was negative emotion (a loss of spirit) which Mark Wahlberg did portray accurately in his Micky Ward role. In reality, overwhelming emotion that is not channeled appropriately can cause a competitive athlete to suffer despair, confusion, and a true loss of spirit physically, mentally, and emotionally. I quickly related these messages to our world of competitive bodybuilding. A very important aspect in our lives as competitors is harmony and consistency; although, at times there are harsh life circumstances that we can't avoid. Too often families take a back seat because they are the biggest distraction in a bodybuilder’s life and one that has to be put into perspective in order to succeed. We saw that in Micky Ward’s egomaniac power controlling family and his loser crack head brother but unfortunately Mickey couldn’t recognize the failure till losses in the ring and then felt like he had to quit. He was a loser less of a boxer let alone a man!
Micky Ward did accomplish a positive support person in his life after a series of failed fights. We saw this role in his girlfriend who was a feisty spirited woman. She was not about to put up with Micky's trailer-park, trash talking, power controlling family. Charlene, played by Amy Adams quickly turned Micky around in his fighter role pointing him in the right directions with a good manager and a trainer to enhance his boxing career. In our competitive, role we have positive relationships to enhance us or quickly the relationships are dissolved otherwise there is failure all around with physique, training, correct dieting and a strong focus to the fight on stage in posing.
Lastly, “never give up” no matter how difficult a road is to competitive success. We saw that in Micky's rocky road till his champion Welterweight fight that won him the title. Yes, that was a win title for his championship but long overdue. The fight was less than life discretely staged with choreography in cinema.
One more comment, Christian Bale was the star in this film deeply submerged as a crack head failure in life after a former boxing career knocking out Sugar Ray. He internalized the character allowing his sensitivity to project a true drug addict and criminal with explicit drug withdrawal. His all-star performance should win him an Oscar in a supporting role. It was impossible to separate character from actor in Dicky.
