The Fighter, and other movie thoughts

So I went and saw The Fighter after a birthday dinner last night, and it was definitely a little different that what I was expecting. When you think about it, there have been so many boxing movies it should be old by now. Here is a list of them, that I have "borrowed" from Bill Simmons' article on espn.com "Rocky"; "The Greatest"; "Rocky II"; "The Champ"; "The Main Event"; "Penitentiary"; "Raging Bull"; "Body and Soul"; "Penitentiary II"; "Rocky III"; "Tough Enough"; "Rocky IV"; "Teen Wolf II"; "Penitentiary III"; "Rocky V"; "Play It to the Bone"; "Gladiator"; "Diggstown"; "When We Were Kings"; "The Great White Hype"; "The Hurricane"; "The Boxer"; "Rocky Marciano"; "Girlfight"; "Ali"; "Undisputed"; "Million Dollar Baby"; "Against the Ropes"; "Cinderella Man"; "Undisputed II"; "Rocky Balboa"; "Resurrecting the Champ"; "The Hammer"; "Fighting"; "The Fighter."

Some of those I would hardly call boxing movies, Gladiator? Teen Wolf II? A stretch to say the least, but it still illustrates Hollywoods love of the boxing movie. And it makes sense, most boxers are a rags to riches story of overcoming overwhelming odds, and personal trials and tribulations. "The Fighter" is no different.

Where it is different however is that it deals with Ward's, Mark Wahlberg, personal life, for nearly the entire movie. The boxing scenes are actually fairly short, and not all that impressive. For all the work that clearly actors go through for getting in "boxing" shape, it does not get a lot of screen time in this movie. He still is more ripped than ill ever be, but really its a drama with boxing on the side.

Wahlberg plays his typical role, good guy trying hard, soft spoken and trying to please everyone. He does it well, and although its predictable from him, it is still an enjoyable performance. Christian Bale on the otherhand gave a spectacular performance as the drug riddled ex-boxer brother. When he is on screen he steals the show, and you almost wish the movie was solely about him, with Wahlberg on the side. And to think that he has to put another 60-70 pounds again after filming for the next batman, much like he had to going from "The Machinist" to "Batman Begins".

Overall it was enjoyable, gave a good 90's feel with the locations and details, yet fell through on trying to get you to really connect with the main character. If you want a really good boxing movie of late, go rent/netflix/however you acquire your movies, "Cinderella Man".

Rating: 3.7 Thumb and a quarter, probably a renter.

I went through the Top 100 on IMDB.com again this morning and tallied all the movies that I have seen that are on the list, stopping at strictly 100 for comparison purposes. I have seen a total of 32 of the top 100, which is ok, but there are lots of movies that I should have seen by now that I have not, thus explaining why im doing this anyway right. Also looked at the bottom 100, and luckily I have only seen one of them, "Meet the Spartans". Trust me, were I not having a dinner night at someone else's house, I would have never chosen to watch it on my own time. It definitely deserves its bottom 100 rating.

I'm just sayin...