The Fighter

9.2/10
Wahlberg was fantastic but Bale is in a different league. Bale steals every scene he’s in absolutely incredible. This movie has all of the emotions. There were moments I cried, cheered, had goosebumps. This is a must watch. The redemption arc is wholesome. You won’t regret watching

Solid film, wish we saw more crack usage, but the boxing was cool too

9/10

Bale’s best acting performance ever

7,7/10

This was a solid fighting movie with a great ending. The acting was stellar too. I loved the accents. I need to watch more fighting movies now, 7.5/10.

8.8 - I hate giving David O. Russell shine. But this is really good.

I picked this out from the free DVD bin at the old school resort my wife and I stayed at on Cape Cod last week because it was “close to Boston” & she’d never seen it. My first watch was marred by the fact that I don’t think my dad knew what he was taking me at 15 & my two younger brothers to when we went to see this in theater, & it’s mostly 2 hours of cocaine addiction & the word fuck - so I was hoping it was still as good as I remembered it.

Christian Bale, despite being in a supporting role, is absolutely the lifeblood of this movie. He fits into such a variety of roles so seamlessly, & to pull off a crack addicted former boxer, chasing a “comeback” through his brother’s success, with a thick Massachusetts accent in the midst of a trilogy playing the most playboy version of Batman is insane.

Beyond Bale, Melissa Leo gives a strong emotional performance as the mother, & not to discredit her Supporting Actress Oscar win, but Amy Adams gives an even stronger performance that made me say mid-watch that it’s nice to be reminded how great of an actress she is.

Lastly, through both the screenplay & the focus on town of Lowell, MA - there’s some very real emotion here. It’s so easy to fall into overly conventional & corny traps when telling a sports story, but I didn’t feel those here.

Seeing the clips of the real-life Eklund/Ward brothers over the start of the credits really hit home how well this was both written & acted.