Reviews by Matt

America loves the comeback story. We love to see the people who have lost it all and comeback better than ever. There are people who make a huge deal as they slowly destroy themselves and their careers. That is what happened with Mickey Rourke.

He was an up-and-coming star in the 80’s. He was good looking and talented. It looked like he would be a huge star, but he was dubbed hard to work with and his return to boxing took away his good looks. No one would hire him and virtually disappeared to oblivion. He made smaller movies that no one really saw. Robert Rodriguez cast him in 2005’s “Sin City.” That brings us too now. The movie that is being called the resurrection of Rourke’s career: “The Wrestler.”

Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Rourke) had a successful career as a wrestler in the 80’s, but now he is stuck doing smaller shows. He lives alone in a trailer he can barely pay for and has not talked to his daughter in years. He has befriended Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), a stripper doing her best to support her son. When Randy suffers a heart attack after a match he is told he can never wrestle again. For a man who is only truly alive in the ring, this is death. He works at the deli counter in a grocery store, tries to reconnect with his daughter and tries to get his life in order. When things turn for the worst, he resorts to the one thing he loves: wrestling.

The hype behind Rourke’s performance is not without merit. He is perfect for the role. Randy is a shell of his former self. He is scraping by on whatever he gets at the shows. Rourke is stunning in this role. There is a sadness that is behind everything in his life, except wrestling. He only works odd jobs to pay the bills between wrestling gigs. He only goes to the strip club to not be alone.

In one of the more emotional scenes, Randy admits to his daughter that their bad relationship is his fault. He was never really there for many years and that is why their relationship has been strained. He tells her, “I’m an old broken down piece of meat and I’m alone and I deserve to be alone. I just don’t want you to hate me.”

There are many scenes where the camera follows Randy as he enters a room, the deli, the strip club, and the wrestling ring. It
is a subtle way to show that in the ring is the only place Randy is truly alive. There is nothing exciting about his life outside the ring. That is why, when he is forced to stop wrestling, it hurts him more than anything in the ring.

The movie is performance driven and has the prefect performance to drive it. Rourke is simply amazing and deserves all the praise he is getting. Come Oscar night it would be a travesty from him to go home empty handed.

8 out of 10
Rated R for violence, sexuality/nudity, language and some drug use
115 min