The Wrestler - Review

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writer: Robert Siegel
Starring: Mickey Rourke/Marisa Tomei
Runtime: 1 hr 45 minutes

Mickey Rourke knows pain. As a former pro boxer, he knows what it means to have your head used as a punching bag, to have eardrums burst and blood explode from your face. He knows that pain is real and lasting. When he looks in the mirror today, he sees a slab of a face that no amount of surgery will ever make right again. No movie star good looks for him. Boxing busted his face, and busted his face will remain.

He brings all of this knowledge to his starring role in The Wrestler, and this knowledge helps him make it one of the better movies from 2008.

The Wrestler is a redemption story and a character study. You'll recognize the plot instantly: a man who used to be great is now washed up. Can he somehow regain his former glory and pride?

The answer is probably obvious, but not as obvious as you think. This is not a Rocky story, nor is it a riff on On The Waterfront. The Wrestler is unpretentious. It shows the inglorious life of this mangled man, and it would take a hard hearted person not to end up caring for him.

The pain in this movie is palpable. Staple guns. Folding chairs. Glass. Razor blades. Barbed wire. Blood. Randy "The Ram" Robinson puts himself through this torture during every match, upping the ante in an attempt to win applause and meager earnings. Why?

That question isn't explored in the film, and it doesn't have to be. The Ram is what he is: a pro wrestler. Somehow, life led him into this career and then abandoned him there. Twenty years after early glory, he is now living in a trailer and working at the supermarket between bouts. His life is and always will be pain. There will be no rags to riches story, because in the minor wrestling circuit, there are no riches. Just the odd hundred dollar bill, and perforated eardrums.

There is a good relationship between Randy and an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei). The stripper's name is Cassidy, but like The Ram, this is merely her stage name. Her real name is Pam. Like The Ram, her job is to appease one of the base human desires. Cassidy appeals to the libido of the customers, while The Ram appeals to their blood lust. They make for an interesting compare/contrast duo. They're the flipside of the same coin. The only fault I could find with Cassidy's character is that she's supposed to be a stripper past her prime, but she's played by Marissa Tomei. Hands up, gentlemen, if you think Marisa Tomei is too over the hill for you (Hollywood's funny that way; I remember seeing Marty years ago and the male characters kept referring to Betsy Blair's character as a "dog." Trouble is, she wasn't a dog, or at least I didn't think so. I heard later that someone said something like, "Yeah, but to Hollywood producers, Betsy was a dog.")

One scene I especially liked in the first half of the film is where Cassidy talks about The Passion of the Christ. She describes the unbelievable violence of the film, and how Jesus took it. The Ram responds by saying, "Tough dude." In the next scene, you witness one of the most violent, bloody, and savage ring-scenes ever put on film. Comparing the scene to The Passion of the Christ might have been hokey if it hadn't been done so well. This film does not hold back and again, the pain is real.


Darren Aronofsky's direction of this film is superb. It is stripped down, hand held, and has a documentary quality to it that works. The behind-the-scenes stuff with the wrestlers is very well done, as they shake hands, talk about which techniques they'll use that night, offer to buy each other a beer later on, then go out and bash each other's brains in. The fight scenes are very well done, and they are not for the squeamish.

Mickey Rourke will likely receive an Oscar nomination for this, and he deserves it. The character was made for him. He embraces all of its ugly reality. I cannot think of anyone else that could have made this character work so well. The Ram is Mickey Rourke, and Mickey Rourke is The Ram. You'll have to decide for yourself if that's a good thing.