Product Details

• Studio: Fox Searchlight
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001GCUNVW

Product Description

Amazon.com

The mystery of Mickey Rourke's career comes to a grungy apotheosis in The Wrestler the much-battered actor's triumphant return to the top rope. He plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a heavily scarred and medicated battler who's twenty years past his best moment in the ring. But he still schleps to every second-rate fight card he can get to, stringing out the paychecks (more likely a fistful of cash) and nursing what's left of his pride. His attempts to adjust to a more normal kind of life form the most absorbing sections in the movie, whether it's flirting with a stripper (Marisa Tomei is in good form, in every sense), establishing a bond with his understandably angry daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), or working behind the deli counter at a nondescript megastore. Rourke is commanding in the role; he obviously spent hours in the gym and the tanning salon, and his ease with the semi-documentary style adopted by director Darren Aronofsky allows him to naturalistically interact with the colorful real-life wrestlers who crowd the movie's ultra-believable locations. All of which helps distract from the film's overall adherence to ancient formula. You might find yourself waiting for the scene where the risk-taking Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) pulls the switch and reveals his true motives for pursuing this otherwise sentimental story, but there's no switch. The Wrestler is an old-fashioned hoke machine, given grit by an actor who doesn't seem to be so much performing the role of ravaged survivor as embodying it. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The fighter still remains, January 15, 2009

By	L. Power "nlp trainer" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Impressed by Mickey Rourke's Golden Globe winning speech, I decided to go see this movie.

Randy 'The Ram' Robinson fought the Ayatollah in Madison Square Garden back in the 80s, and still battles today. Ill met by fate, bruised and battered, his sinewy muscles scarred, his bones creaking in protest he still has the fight, and like a One Trick Pony he sticks to what he knows. It's a desperate life.

As you may recall in Raging Bull, Robert De Niro put on about 40 pounds to play fighter Jake La Motta as he got older, and he won an Oscar for his dedication to the role.

Mickey Rourke does something no less astounding here, putting on huge bulk to assume the persona and convincing physique of a professional wrestler. It's the most amazing acting performance of the year. The lines between actor and character blur and disappear. The kind of pain you see on Randy's face cannot be pretended. It can only be relived from the actor's parallel experience, which is what makes Rourke's performance so compelling.

For female companionship, he goes to a local bar, where a fetching stripper played by Marisa Tomei, Academy Award winner for My Cousin Vinny, gives him a lap dance for a fee. He can barely make rent, yet he has priorities.

Marisa gives an incredibly authentic performance, and it's a welcome surprise see her take it off in the name of art. I applaud her courage in doing so. Her physique is simply amazing, and her body art is very intriguing.

Evan Rachel Wood plays his estranged daughter. Previously, she played the female lead part in Across The Universe, and already has a quite impressive filmography under her belt. Here she sports a different look, and gives a perfect performance.

Some of the wrestling sequences are truly outrageous, and not a little disturbing. Having cut my finger on a ham slicer early in life, seeing people operating ham slicers gives me the heebie jeebies. If you have a problem with the sight of blood, I caution you that there are some disturbing sequences in the movie.

The Academy's actor awards tend to go to actors in two types of role:

1.Psychopath- No Country for Old Men, The Usual Suspects, There Will Be Blood, Training Day, Silence of the Lambs.

2.Mentally Disabled, Social or Physical Handicap, overcomes great adversity or discrimination- Shine, As Good as It Gets, A Beautiful Mind, Ray, Scent of a Woman, Capote, Philadelphia, The Pianist, A Beautiful Life.

Randy definitely has a handicap, and last year was the year of the psychopath, with both Daniel Day Lewis, and Javier Bardem winning Oscar.

I hope you find this helpful.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A broken man searches for acceptance, dignity, and redemption, but finds himself instead, January 24, 2009

By	Unlucky Frank (Lalaland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Growing up in the 80s, Mickey Rourke was James Dean to me. His part was too small for me to notice him in BODY HEAT. The critics had caught a glimpse of him and his potential in that film. I knew that I was on to something watching him as the fast talking womanizing Baltimore con-artist Boogie, in Levinson's DINER. His honesty as an actor pierced my emotions, even though he was playing a character that was lying throughout the entire film. When I witnessed his serene and suicidally introspective portrayal of The Motorcycle Boy in Coppola's urban dreamscape of S.E. Hinton's teenage angst novel RUMBLE FISH, I knew that I had just witnessed The Rebirth of James Dean. When I saw his cool slowburning streetwise Italian dreamer, Charlie in THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLIAGE, I knew I had found a film actor I could idolize. I wore my hair like him. I tried to dress like him. I wanted to be him. Man, this was the COOLEST actor taking the coolest parts in Hollywood! Mickey was IT!

But, like Dean, it seemed that Mickey would metaphorically and almost literally crash and leave us with only three truly GREAT films. After a few briefly compelling performances in the 80s as the hardboiled Kowalski in Cimino's YEAR OF THE DRAGON, the lascivious John in 9 1/2 WEEKS, Harry Angel in ANGEL HEART, and the hilarious Henry Chinaski in BARFLY, Mickey's career dwindled into lesser leads, bit parts, and cameo roles. Mickey became "difficult" to work with. Mickey wanted to give up the studio politics and the collaborative involvement with a craft that he was, quite literally, born to do. And become what? A boxer? The owner of a hair salon? A biker? A thug? Then, Mickey lost himself for 14 years. In a reply to a ten year hiatus question backstage at The Golden Globes, Rourke said, "Let's get it right. Ten years sounds easy." Ultimately, he was alone. Mickey Rourke was forced to do some soul searching.

Into the 21st Century, no one noticed Mickey's hilarious turn as The Cook in SPUN. A wild and sardonically dark comedy about methamphetamine users. (The Cook watches and adores wrestling on TV while cooking up his dope. One wonders if this gave Aronofsky the idea to cast Rourke in THE WRESTLER?) His sad and tender moment at the end of that film was a revelation of things to come. The final monologue is a wonderful precursor to his character in THE WRESTLER. It broke my heart. Then, a new generation of fans and critics were talking about him again, after grabbing everyone's attention as disfigured Marv in Robert Rodriguez' comic book pastiche, SIN CITY. Sort of a throwback to Rourke's JOHNNY HANDSOME. The best thing about SIN CITY was Rourke's performance. It stood out like a sore thumb. Even over the special look of that film.

Now, things have changed for Mr. Rourke. With the critical acclaim (for once they got it right) for this film, he is all over the talk show circuit recalling his loneliness, his mistakes, and episodes from his former life. Like a 12 stepper, Mickey now seems humble and apologetic. Thanking everyone for giving him the chance to once again become the serious actor he once was. (We should all thank them too.) He is no longer taking anything for granted. Everyone loves a humble winner. And God Bless him, Mickey Rourke is BACK! And his performance in THE WRESTLER is a WINNER!

The generous Mr. Darren Aronofsky has given Mickey Rourke the role of a lifetime with this film. Knowing Rourke's reputation for being next to impossible to work with, Aronofsky could not get the financing for this film when he first attached Mickey's name to the project, but promised Mickey an Oscar nomination if he would only listen to his direction and do everything he was told to do. Mickey kept his promise, and it appears that the masterly and prescient Aronofsky has kept his. THE WRESTLER was not written for Mickey Rourke, but was later tailored to fit him personally. The themes are semi-autobiographical.

The story is not complicated. Although, changed and improvised due to Rourke's involvement, the script, written by Robert Siegel, is reminiscent of a 20's or 30's bloody pulp fiction boxing story that could have been penned by the creator of Conan The Barbarian, the late Robert E. Howard. It is a simple pulp character study about a lonely beaten man who has been to the top of the mountain only to be brought back down again by the repercussions of his actions, and a savage career choice that has taken a brutal toll on his body from staged battles, steroid juice abuse, and a lot of 80's Hair Metal. (The biggest laugh in the film, comes from Rourke's line about Kurt Cobain and what he did to 80's Metal.) Filmed in a grainy Indy style with long loose tracking shots and circular handheld camera movements, it is a sad, gritty, brutal, and COMIC semi-documentary narrative told mostly from Randy "The Ram" Robinson's POV. Not every movie goer will appreciate the raw look of this film, the patchwork sequences, or the triumphantly open ending. True film lovers will.

The performances here are very brave indeed. Marisa Tomei is essential as Cassidy. She bares it all as a sweet, conflicted, past her prime stripper mom, unwilling to succumb to The Ram and his half desperate attention for her affections. Most 40 something actresses wished they looked this good, but might never agree to pole dance almost completely nude in a film about an aging wrestler. You will fall in love with her all over again in this film. Her Nomination for a Golden Boy is well deserved.

Unlike De Niro who donned 40 lbs of fat for his role as Jake LaMotta, Rourke bulked up approximately 40 lbs of muscle on top of his already commanding girth. Rourke is scarred, pimpled, pumped, and battered. His body and visage are roadmaps of world weariness and pain. One grim shot shows Rourke shooting steroids into his veiny, mottled, and scarred rearend. A selfless dedication and adherence to character. A fearless commitment by a great actor to shamelessly open himself up to his audience. Baring his wounded nakedness, as well as the internal wounds to his lonely psyche. And isn't this what we love about our greatest actors? This film IS Mickey Rourke. Body and Soul. This is an extremely giving performance. It is symbolic, commanding, sad, demanding, honest, demure, comic, tender, uplifting, and most of all, heartbreaking.

A broken man searches for acceptance, dignity, and redemption, but finds himself instead.

The same can be said about The Second Coming of Mickey Rourke. THIS IS A GREAT FILM! Just give this man his Oscar. I can only hope Mick gets his Harley back!

This is The Best Film of 2008.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mickey Rourke still has The Juice as The Wrestler., November 17, 2008

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"You want to earn respect in your old age"--Mickey Rourke (age 56).

The French consider Mickey Rourke America's greatest actor. In the 80s, they loved him for his "cool, his on-screen cruelty, his seediness, his sexual depravity" (New York Times Magazine, 11/30/08), and for his "rumpled, slightly dirty, sordid. . . rebel persona (Mickey Rourke Biography - Yahoo! Movies). In 1985, Les Cahiers du cinéma noted that Rourke stands out from the pack of "steroid-fattened and lobotomized" leading men in Hollywood.

I experienced The Wrestler at the Denver Film Festival over the weekend. It stars Mickey Rourke as Randy "Ram" Robinson, an aging professional wrestler. Rourke's name has become synonymous with his roles as Robert 'Boogie' Sheftell in Diner, Charlie Moran in The Pope of Greenwich Village, John Gray in 9 1/2 Weeks, James Wheeler in Wild Orchid, and Marv in Sin City. While I am not a fan of professional wrestling, I can only praise Rourke's performance in this film, which also features performances by actual professional wrestlers like The Blue Meanie, Necro Butcher, Nick Berk, DJ Hyde, Whacks, Perry Saturn, Kid USA, R-Truth, Romeo Roselli, and Zandig as minor characters. Rourke deserves an Oscar nomination, and this film is reminscent of John Cassavetes's films at their emotionally-draining best. Directed by Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler tells the gut-wrenchingly poignant story of Robinson's attempted comeback following a heart attack, which threatens to kill him if he enters the ring again. Following a successful career in the 1980s, Robinson now lives alone in a New Jersey trailer park. He still listens to the heavy-metal songs of his professional heyday. His days are permeated with loneliness and profound despair. He has lost everything: his wife, his daughter, his money, and his respect. After taking a job at a deli counter, attempting to engage an aging stripper, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), in a relationship longer than a lap dance, and attempting to salvage his relationship with an estranged lesbian daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), who has grown to hate him, Robinson decides to enter the ring again for a showdown with his old nemesis, the Ayatollah (Ernest Miller). The film is ultimately a character study which draws engaging parallels between Robinson's life as a washed-up wrestler and Cassidy's life as an aging stripper. Both characters are deeply-troubled people, which is exactly what makes this film so compelling. If you're a guy, Marissa Tomei's pole-dancing performances are reason enough to experience this film. Both Rourke and Tomei bring rivetting performances to a stellar film that will leave viewers haunted in the end. This film has Oscar Contender written all over it.

12/05/08 Update: The Wrestler and Mickey Rourke both received Spirit Award nods this week.

12/12/08 Update: Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei received Golden Globe nominations for their performances this week.

G. Merritt