It’s clear to see why Mickey Rourke is being considered for Outstanding Actor. He gives himself up completely to the character. A winning and touching performance. You can’t help but like the “Ram” and care for him.Just as clearly, the film is not for everyone. The brutal “hardcore” wrestling – though infrequent – is quite gruesome at times.

An aging, once world champion wrestler, Rourke is now relegated to barnstorming small venue matches. Struggling to eke out a living at his sport, he is forced to work part time at a big box outlet to keep the landlord’s padlock off his trailer.

The two women in his life are his estranged daughter – Evan Rachel Wood – and stripper who is also a working mom, Marisa Tomei (exhibiting a body any 20 year old would be proud to have).

The original story by Robert Siegel is not very original, but is nonetheless a sensitive piece. Siegel and Rourke somehow manage to paint the utterly sweet and kind portrait of a man whose entire life has been deeply entrenched in a brutal sport. As a matter of fact, all the wrestlers portrayed in this film respect and care about each other. They may be a little “basic-caveman”, but they’re a bunch of guys you’d like to know.

 

Written by Robert Siegel
Produced by Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky
Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Cast:
Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

Rated R, 105 minutes

 

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