Lambie Reviews The Wrestler

Year: 2008
Accolades: One of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die; Nominated For A Slew of Awards, and Won a Considerable Number of Them
Review on Letterboxd: 'The Wrestler' Review by Avalanche

This is the movie that redefined Mickey Rourke as a respectable actor, and potentially the biggest reason why the film generally gathered a lot of positive hype. Rourke plays an aging professional wrestler who is still loved by the fans, but whose personal life is mess. He has to struggle with the thought of retiring from the ring in order to clean up his act outside of it.

Rourke is absolutely fantastic in the role. He doesn't actually have all that much meaningful dialogue, but we are still able to get inside the character's head. It's very much a physical role more-so than a vocal one. This is a man who struggles to have meaningful, emotional conversations with the people that matter, and Rourke makes it painfully realistic to watch.

Unfortunately, Rourke's performance is let down by many other aspects of the film. That's not to say the film is bad, because it's not a bad film, it's just not a great film that justifies the hype it received. There are just too many little things that don't mesh in the film, which makes it difficult to appreciate and enjoy.

The cinematography is for the most part in the hand-held style that gives the first act of the film an almost documentary style feel to it. That in itself is not bad and suits the feel of the film when we are first thrust into it, but the almost continuous shots of the back of Mickey Rourke's head as he walks from one place to another becomes frustrating and the film starts to become inaccessible.

The style then feels completely out of place in the film's second act, in which we really start to explore this man's world outside of the wrestling ring. The film starts to go down the emotional road as he tries to make up for all his wrongs. This to me is the best part of the film, but it feels totally out of place next to the more physical first act.

Towards the end of the film, everything becomes predictable. I could see plot points coming a mile off, not because they are intentionally signposted or foreshadowed in the film, but because after a certain point I realised that the film was just ticking all the boxes for this sort of film. Single mother stripper with a heart of gold? Check. Deadbeat dad who ruined his relationship with his daughter and now want to make up for it? Check. Physical performer who is told he can not continue in his line of profession or risk serious injury and/or death? Check.

The film starts off treating these things in ways which are unique and interesting, but in the end it all falls down in a cliched heap. Where before I was genuinely interested in how this man would survive retirement and what he would do, now I just didn't care because I knew what was going to happen. There even didn't really seem to be a complete and satisfying ending, even if the film was full of cliches. I think this is a film that tried to do some interesting things, and for about half of the film did it well, but ultimately fell a bit short.