Posted by Mordecai
on 8/23/2009, 10:11 pm
Let's get this part out of the way first...
When I was a kid I was an obsessive wrestling fan. When I became older and wiser I was still a huge mark. Today, you couldn't pay me to watch one minute of it.
That said... I am THE target audience for this movie. I've watched almost all of my childhood heros die in the last 15 years.
About the movie...
The guy who wrote the screenplay knows his shit. The dressing room scenes are brilliant. (Lots of improv with actual wrestlers, I'm guessing.) And he knows the life stories of many wreslters well. I can probably even tell you which wrestlers are the basis for Randy The Ram, but the story tends to be the same for far too many.
It was good that the director (yes, I know it was Aronofsky) decided to give extended play to the matches. One match, and its setup, and its aftermath, was particularly brutal, and absolutely perfect.
The sub-plot with his daughter was done really well. From beginning to end. Nice touch with the crossed-out phone numbers on back of the picture.
The other sub-plot with the stripper didn't work so well. Two scenes, and certainly one towards the end, just did not do it right. She's really only there for the van scene. (And for titties.)
And what about Rourke?
Holy shit.
I don't want to get all bubbly about it, but that performance was something special.
A great actor, creating a great movie, almost all by himself.
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