Fighter, The

Aroview: Mark Wahlberg comes out swinging in this tough-talking boxing chronicle of Irish-American slugger Micky Ward, who transforms his ailing career despite the destructive behaviour of his dysfunctional family.

While the rousing true story makes for a gripping, unglamorous drama, David O. Russell’s straightforward direction gives us an utterly conventional take on the genre, one that exercises the same working class archetypes, steely determination (through which boxing is posited as a metaphor for life), and against-the-odds triumph. The performances, though thickly laid on and eager to chew the scenery, are down-and-dirty in the best sense, with Oscar-winners Leo and Bale (gaunt as ever) reveling in the skin of white trash characters seemingly lifted from a Jerry Springer episode. A shame, then, that the film lacks the punch to capitalise on the actors’ bravado, if not the guts to step outside of a ring well circled by ROCKY, and other underdog sports movies for that matter.

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