The Wrestler

This film finally made it's way to my local cineplex after months of reading how good it is and how Mickey Rourke is beyond amazing in this film. Now, being the cynic that I am with movies, you can see why I didn't want to believe any of it. I've been burned too many times, I fear I may never love again. But then I saw the trailer:



After watching it a few times, I started to feel like everything I was reading was true. And having seen it this past weekend, believe your favorite film critic when I tell you that everything I or you have read is true. Believe the hype, this is an amazing film.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Mickey Rourke's performance is what makes this film what it is. You can see in every line on his face, in every expression, in every word he utters that he poured a lifetime of guilt, anguish and hurt into his portrayal of Randy "The Ram" Robinson. He's pissed away everything in his life that should mean something to him all for his love of the glory of wrestling. As I was watching this movie unfold, I wanted to dislike Randy because he brought a lot of his hardships on himself. Rourke, however, plays him with such charm and confidence I found myself rooting for him to snap out of his train wreck of a life.

The other aspect of this film that impressed me so much was the direction of Darren Aronofsky. Mr. Aronofsky showed a lot of promise with Pi and Requiem for a Dream, although they felt a little too bogged down with art-school gimmickry. This time, Aronofsky shunned these tricks and filmed The Wrestler with an authentic documentary-type shakiness to the camera-work. A handful of the scenes feel like they were slightly improvised as well which certainly adds to the realness of the story. His interactions with his daughter, played superbly by Evan Rachel Wood, especially feel this way. That scene in the trailer where he says he doesn't want her to hate him and their final scene together are especially heartbreaking to watch. Marissa Tomei also does an excellent job as Randy's love interest/favorite stripper, Cassidy. This was a brave role for Tomei to take on and I was happy to see she got nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.

However, I'm also disappointed that this film wasn't nominated for Best Picture or Best Director. Here are a couple suggestions from your beloved Captain: replace Slumdog Millionaire with the The Wrestler in the Best Picture category. Yes, Slumdog was a great film, but it wasn't better than The Wrestler, not by a long shot. My second suggestion, get rid of Ron Howard in the Best Director category and put Aronofsky in there. I've got news for you people, there's nothing special about Ron Howard's directorial style, it's thoroughly generic and largely lifeless. I haven't seen Frost/Nixon, but I've seen enough of Howard's movies to know that this one will feel the same way.

If Rourke doesn't win the Oscar for this one, it will be a damn shame. He clearly poured every ounce of his being into this film and deserves to be recognized. Do yourself a favor and see this movie and watch one of the best screen performances you will ever see.

Captain Cinema Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.