Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Synopsis Of The Recent Hit Moive The Wrestler

By Mattie Owens

If you haven't seen The Wrestler yet, you really need to. It's certainly one of the top must see movie downloads of the last ten years, and everything you've heard about the movie is one hundred percent true. Rourke really knocks it out of the park and gives the performance of a lifetime, while Darren Aronofsky tops everything he's done before to come out with a movie that is well beyond anything you might have thought him capable of.

Rourke really does provide the heart and soul of this movie, and even the body, taking some real bumps in the name of giving a great show. He plays Randy The Ram Robinson, a wrestler who was huge in the eighties, during the hair metal days, and has since faded into obscurity. He still wrestles, but it doesn't pay the bills alone, as he wrestles for small crowds, and he has to supplement his income with hours at the grocery store.

Randy's lifestyle has alienated everyone he's ever loved and seriously done a number on his body. He has to see if he can make a comeback, both in the ring, where he's washed up, and in his personal life, where he doesn't even have a loyal fanbase to keep him going.

The movie will rip at your heart strings at the same time as it makes you feel a little more positive about life. The movie looks at Randy in a sincere light, portraying him as a real human being who's made a lot of big mistakes, but a real human being nonetheless. The movie is brutally honest without ever succumbing to the cruel pessimism you usually see in films that are "brutally honest".

Rourke is, again, incredible here. He lived this role in life for years, suffering through all sorts of problems and losing his place in the Hollywood pecking order. This movie is Rourke's comeback, his story, just as it is Randy's. Rourke didn't just play this role, he was this role. Interestingly, Nicholas Cage was offered the job and dropped out because he knew his friend Rourke wanted it, and, in fact, would have done a better job.

They might have been able to secure a bigger budget had Cage stayed on, but the end result is a smaller, more intimate, personal movie, and it's all that much better for it. Rourke wrestles for small crowds, and it really drives home the fact that Randy gives his all to every show, whether he's wrestling for a few thousand fans or a few dozen. He really bleeds it out.

It's an old story with a lot of stock characters, but somehow, it never feels cliche or predictable. The movie is all heart, treating its characters with real love, respect and affection. As a result, it's one of the best movies of the last decade, and probably the best performance of Rourke's career. Even if you weren't too impressed with Requiem for a Dream or Pi, this movie is well beyond anything you might have thought director Darren Aronofsky to have been capable of.

The movie manages to warm your heart and break it at the same time. It's something like Rocky meets Raging Bull in the world of sports movies, and the ending carries a double meaning. We won't spoil it for you, but it's worth a moment of reflection after the acoustic Bruce Springsteen song plays out over the end credits.

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