Movie Review: The Fighter

The Fighter is a true story that takes place in Lowell, Massachusetts in the mid 1980's about two brothers, Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, and their lives in boxing. Dicky, a former boxing champion, struggles with his drug addiction while trying to train his brother Micky to become someone in the boxing world.

As the only two boys in a family with seven other children, family is the main focus of the movie. Dicky and Micky's mother, Alice, is their manager and the one who books all of Mickey's fights. The seven sisters are basically Alice's little helpers and back their mother up on every word that she speaks. They always have a comment, and provide some comical relief during the tense moments in the movie. The family fights a great deal more than a normal family would. They get in verbal as well as physical fights, and say some pretty nasty things to one another, but at the end of the fight they're always there for each other.

The acting was a ten in my book. The actors did not just sign up to play a part, they were the part and it made a huge difference in the overall feeling of the movie. I could see the passion in the actor's actions, movements, and spoken lines. It was as if it was the real life story happening before my eyes as a documentary instead of a film with a bunch of actors and actresses.

Plus, what is a good movie without heart-felt moments and learned lessons? Dicky's son got me there. His little blonde son hugging him when he gets released from jail made me tear up a little bit. Precious. Also, the lesson Dicky learned about his drug addiction and how it was not getting him anywhere productive in life.

The most important part of this though is that it is a true story, which makes the movie relatable to everyone. When people watch this movie, they'll think "Wow, this actually happened" which makes it all the more awesome. When movies are too fake, people take notice and don't enjoy them as much, however, with The Fighter people do not have to worry about that because it is all real life.

I think that what made this movie a truly remarkable sports movie was that it was not only a true story, but it was also not all about the sport. It was about all of the factors that come along with the sport. These factors including family, love, overcoming obstacles, and persistence of dreams.

I would give The Fighter 5/5 stars with no question.