So I was watching The Fighter yet again with a buddy of mine this past weekend. He hadn’t seen it yet and I thought it was rather absurd that it had been this long without him seeing this piece of cinematic gold. It was nominated at the Oscars for many different academy awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress just to name a few. Any way, after I went to Blockbuster and saw it was completely sold out (for good reason), I bought it on my TV. We both sat down, shut up, got the food out, and watched the movie.

The film is set in Lowell Mass. circa 1993. It follows the story of road worker and actual boxer in real life, Mickey Ward played by Mark Wahlberg. A 31 year old “stepping stone” as he is called by critics and the residents, he lives under the over protective eye of his mother/manager Melissa Leo and in the shadow of his trainer/step brother, a once promising boxer Dicky Eklund played by Christian Bale. Eklund is the pride of Lowell for having fought Sugar Ray Leonard on HBO in 1978 and having “knocked him down” even though it is determined that Leonard simply tripped. Yet after having all the  notoriety come too fast and too soon, Eklund has slipped into crack addiction and crime. He lives in a rundown crack house, repeatedly shows up late to training sessions, and is constantly in drug induced hazes on the days of Mickey’s fights.

Back to Ward. Ward is a very talented boxer, but he is simply falling victim to the wrong fights and with a real chance on the horizon at the age of 31, he is torn between doing what’s best for him and his loyalty to his family. It’s a great story about how this very lovable and real character makes it to the top of the boxing world. It is a very Rocky-esque rise to the top indeed.

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