What do you mean you haven’t seen The Wrestler yet? It may well be one of the top ten movie downloads of the last decade! Everything you’ve head about this movie is true. Mickey Rourke gives the performance of a lifetime, making a strong comeback, and the film itself may well be director Darren Aronofsky’s masterpiece.
The heart, soul and body of the movie is Mickey Rourke’s performance as Randy The Ram Robinson. Well, his real name is Robin Ramzinski. He was a huge star in the hair metal eighties days of wrestling, but has since faded into obscurity. Now he wrestles on the weekends, but it doesn’t quite pay the bills, and he has to supplement that by putting in hours at the local grocery store.
Randy’s lifestyle has been self destructive, and it’s cost him everything. He’s paying the price, having lost touch with his daughter, and while he and the boys at the locker room are always close, he really doesn’t have any true, close friends.
The movie is heart wrenching, incredibly emotional, and while it shows Randy as he is, as a man who has hurt himself and others with his lifestyle, it never judges him or looks down on him. Randy the Ram is a lovable guy, and it becomes tragic that all cannot be forgiven so easily.
Rourke is, again, incredible here. He lived this role in life for years, suffering through all sorts of problems and losing his place in the Hollywood pecking order. This movie is Rourke’s comeback, his story, just as it is Randy’s. Rourke didn’t just play this role, he was this role. Interestingly, Nicholas Cage was offered the job and dropped out because he knew his friend Rourke wanted it, and, in fact, would have done a better job.
This resulted in a smaller budget which actually helps to improve the movie. Randy wrestles for smaller crowds, not packed stadiums with the WWE, so this really drives home his passion. Whether he’s wrestling for a few dozen or a few thousand, he always gives every last drop of sweat and blood to the ring.
It’s an old story with a lot of stock characters, but somehow, it never feels cliche or predictable. The movie is all heart, treating its characters with real love, respect and affection. As a result, it’s one of the best movies of the last decade, and probably the best performance of Rourke’s career. Even if you weren’t too impressed with Requiem for a Dream or Pi, this movie is well beyond anything you might have thought director Darren Aronofsky to have been capable of.
When you hear the acoustic song by Springsteen at the end, take a moment to reflect on what the ending really means. This movie has a lot of depth, and sits somewhere between Rocky and Raging Bull in the pantheon of sports movies. It is, at once, heart breaking and heart warming, both upbeat and tragic, and the ending really drives that home. At the very least, it’s a story you’ll never forget.
When both sides figure out the situation, it is left to Sullivan and Costigan to discover each other’s identity. purchase dvds online The instrument makes no sound until the breath brings it to life. There is usually a song or two that I just can’t force myself to get through.
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