THEFIGHTER
A tough tale told with tenderness
BY ANN HORNADAY If you think “Rocky” and “Raging Bull”
define the alpha and omega of boxingmovies, think again. David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” proves there’s stillpunchinthe genre, especial- ly when a filmmaker tells a familiar story in a brand-newway. In this case, the story is based on a true one.
Inthe 1970s,welterweightboxerDickyEklund, known as the “Pride of Lowell,” made local history in that working-class Massachusetts city by sending Sugar Ray Leonard to themat. Later, lost in a vortex of drug addiction and running petty hustles, Dicky trained his half- brother Micky Ward, eventually to a world welterweight championship. The title character of “TheFighter”might be
Micky—played here in a straight-up, stalwart, hugely sympathetic performance by Mark Wahlberg. But it could just as easily pertain to the hardscrabbleDicky, especially as he’s chan- neled by Christian
Bale.Down 30 pounds, Bale is nothing less than revelatory as the skinny, skeeved-out crackhead who, against all odds, commands the audience’s affection and, im- probably, a fewlaughs. Filmed like an HBO boxing documentary,
“The Fighter” possesses the light-footed dex- terity and spontaneity of the most sensitive pugilist, circling its characterswithequalparts discretion and confrontational zeal. Just as it’s ambiguouswho the Fighter is in “The Fighter,” it’sdifficult topindownwhichfight itsprotago-
nists arewaging. On one level, Russell constructs a classic
come-from-behind story of focus, discipline andtriumph, asMickyputshisheaddownand, with the love of a pugnacious redhead named Charlene (Amy Adams), goes for the gold. On another level, “The Fighter” chronicles how Micky fought free of the sprawling, mostly female family that exploited himand kept him back—mostly at the hands of his domineering mother, Alice (an unrecognizably teased-and- bleached Melissa Leo). And on yet another level, “The Fighter” is about Dicky’s fight to
OPENING NEXTWEEK
JOJO WHILDEN/COPYRIGHT FIGHTER MarkWahlberg, right, playsMicky, whose name is often misspelled, much to his chagrin.
overcome the demons that threatened to de- stroynotonlyhimbut alsothebrotherheholds dear. The filial tensions and loyalties that drive
“The Fighter” form its most meaningful core, especiallyas they’rebrought tolifebyWahlberg and Bale, each of whom disappears into his characterwith uncanny ease. “The Fighter” isn’t just about one or two
men, as captivating as they are, but about fighter continued on 27
Kevin Spacey is Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack. . . . Birthday time for the Little Fockers. . . . Santa is unearthed in Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. . . . An actor’s daughter visits in Somewhere. . . . Jeff Bridges stars in True Grit. . . . A couple grieves the loss of their young son in Rabbit Hole. . . .Women demonstrate against sexual discrimination in Made in Dagenham. . . . Jack Black is in Gulliver’s Travels.
rrrr Masterpiece rrr Very good rr Okay r Poor
RATINGSGUIDE No stars Waste of time
TRON:LEGACY
Man
vs.machine: Techno babble
BY MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN There are worse things than being trapped
inside a computer game with Olivia Wilde. In “Tron: Legacy,” the loud, long and less
than wholly satisfying sequel to “Tron,” that’s the bittersweet fate of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridg- es), the computer-nerd hero of both the 1982 sci-fi cult classic and its high-tech, 3-D update. When we first meet the now-grizzled Flynn — who we learn in a prologue has been missing since 1989 — he’s literally trapped inside a video game he created, a flesh-and-blood fugi- tive from a digital fascist state whose primary form of entertainment is gladiator-style com- bat using lethal flying disks and lightning-fast motorcycles. But it’s not all bad: He also lives with a smoking-hotbabein abodysuitnamedQuorra
COPYRIGHT DISNEY ENTERPRISES
The computer game is afoot (again): In “Tron: Legacy,” Jeff Bridges has two roles—an older version of the character he originated in the 1982 film and a younger-looking avatar.
(Wilde, from TV’s “House”). In the two decades since Flynn disappeared
from the real world, he has managed to not only stay alive but also to carve out a sweet life in hiding, far from the deadly gaming “grid” he designed. In the years since he has gotten stuck in this parallel universe, Flynn, it seems, has grown
philosophical about his
situation.More specif- ically, he has turned into a geek-chic version of the Dude, the laid-back slacker character Bridges played in “The Big Lebowski.” Flynn spends much of “Tron: Legacy” meditating — he calls it “knocking on the sky and listening to
tron continued on 27
GLEN WILSON
Ben Stiller’s character gets odd advice from his mother (Barbra Streisand) in “Little Fockers.”
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