What happens when a volatile director meets a potentially volatileactor on set? You get one of the most intense performances of the year.Notoriously hard-to-work-with director David O. Russell (Three Kings,1999) guides Christian Bale (who infamously threw vulgar tirades on theset of Terminator Salvation, 2009) to a great turn as Dicky Eklund, thedrug addict brother of Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), whom this biopic isbased on. The Fighter, as it is titled, chronicles Micky's rise toprominence in the sport of boxing, but it is not without its fair shareof ups and downs as you would see in this quite masterful picture ofdrama and sport.

In the realm of boxing pictures, The Fighter straddles in the territorybetween Rocky (1976) and Raging Bull (1980), with the latter being theholy grail of the subgenre. It is raw, gritty, vulgar, and also a veryrevealing examination of the nature of human relations when people areunder pressure to conform to the beliefs and expectations of others.The performances in this film are a knockout, and are perhaps the mostcompelling reason to head down to the theatres to catch the film. Inaddition to Wahlberg and Bale, the ensemble cast also features AmyAdams (Doubt, 2008), who is cast against type as a foul-mouth bargirl,and Melissa Leo (Frozen River, 2008), who plays one of the fiercestmovie moms in recent memory.

Russell's rough, unpolished visual style gives the film a documentaryfeel, and this is aided by scenes which show a cameraman and some crewfollowing Dicky, the footage of which would end up in a special socialissue segment about "Crack" on HBO shown on television in the film. Inthe final quarter, when Micky gets a title shot, one would expect athrilling boxing match, of which Russell delivers with aplomb. It doesnot have the gut-wrenching impact of Raging Bull, nor is it asinspiring as Rocky, but Russell's unique way of presenting the fight(he uses intentionally hard lighting, loud, overbearing commentators,and low-bass strings) makes it especially immersive.

Perhaps the biggest flaw of The Fighter (but it is not a major one) isthat the character of Micky Ward is not screen-stealing enough andseems to play a secondary role to Dicky, who is a supporting character,albeit a very highly stimulating one. Thus, even though the drama isgenerally involving and exciting, it would seem at times that this filmis not so much about Mickey but the strong-minded characters around himthat shaped his attitudes toward his outlook in life. In a nutshell,Russell has done an impressive job with an excellent cast, and hasshown that Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, 2008), who was originallyslated to direct this, was not sorely missed.

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After watching the trailers for last few months finally watched it..andloved it.Right actors for the right roles.Each character has beenthoughtfully selected and each one of them have religiously performedtheir part.Whether it is Micky,Dicky,mom,girlfriend...they all havebeen able to perfectly portrait the true story of the "Irish" and hisbattle to the top. Christian Bale..turning out to be an actor who canjust perfectly play any role he gets..whether it is the role ofBatman,Psycho,terminator or a drug addict..he just fits in.Bale'sacting as a restless addict in the movie is superbly played.Overallcharacters were nicely balanced.Mark Wahlberg did well in showing as aprofessional boxer.Anyway the best parts are still the fights.I lovedthe last two fights because they ended pretty quick.Usually you alreadyknow that the actor after getting beaten to death will get back all hismotivational energy after seeing some flash trailers of his bad past inhis memory. Here it just ends..two three quick nice shots and thatsit..he wins.You don't have to wait till you see the villain gettingbeaten to the core. A must watch for action and sports movie lovers. Irate it 9 out of 10 and would not mind watching it two or three timesmore.

THE FIGHTER is another boxing movie that packs a heavy punch, and iteasily resembles two of the most famous and beloved boxing movies ofall time, ROCKY (1976) and RAGING BULL (1980), which is interestinglytwo very different pictures; THE FIGHTER combines that ultra realistic,intimate, wore down inner-torments with that charismatic, upliftingone- in-a-million shot chance of your lifetime with the big heartbeating louder than ever, and it manages it. It's a difficult task topull off, but director David O. Russell and the screenwriters keeps agreat pace and we're given good time to root for the characters and thescenes, which holds much emotionality firstly by actors working theirguts out. Mark Wahlberg plays the main character, Micky Ward, sostraight-forward and stale that he actually becomes a stable holdingpoint in a film where everybody else around him is all over the place,especially his mother Alice played by Melissa Leo and his crack-head,ex-boxer, personal trainer half-brother Dicky played by Christian Bale,both very memorable performances. I loved the fact that the film hasthis bruised and bleeding heart pumping all the way through, but in thesame time it's got good humor and everyday sensibility, and it's way ofusing music (Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Whitesnake, Aerosmithand more) is almost ironically powerful. Take this film to the ring,you won't regret it.

The Fighter is a very touching true story of Dicky and Mick Ward, thelegendary boxing champions of early 90's. This film tells the story oftheir family and their in differences towards each other.

Dicky Ward is already a boxing champion in a small town Lowell and hisstory is being recorded for a HBO film. He wants his younger brother tobe like him. He along with his mother, Alice ward, manages Mick'sboxing matches schedule. Mick is about to fight a boxer but when theyreach the venue , the opponent turns out to be some other guy morepowerful than Mick Ward. The result is Mick looses the fight and blamesthe defeat to elder brother and mother. What follows next is the familydrama and how do they help each other in the time of distress.

The Fighter - Another true story well told along with a mind blowingperformance by Christain Bale... this guy surely deserves an award forhis role as Dicky Ward ...Hats off to the director as well for handlingthe subject so sensibly. Mark Walhberg also comes up with a fineperformance supported by rest of the star cast. Overall , a great movieto watch ...

While many are calling this film a "winner" and positioning it for bestpicture of 2010, I just do not see that. Yes, it is quite good and evenbetter than I expected for a film that is basically the same oldunderdog rises up story.

Mark Wahlberg (who looks like Matt Damon) is a decent actor, but it isChristian Bale that steals the show here. Fragile, a little bit crazy,he is not even recognizable as the man who plays Batman. Few if anyactors today put as much effort into becoming their roles than Baledoes, and he is the reason to watch this film -- without him it wouldjust be average.

Expect this to get Bale a nomination and probably a win for supportingactor... beyond that, I do not see it.