The Wrestler review

Now- Where to start with this movie...I sat here, last night, with a pen and notepad on my lap while watching this. So without me realising this, I wrote about four sides of notes. That's not really alot on an A5 notebook, but guess what- I'm not going to use any of it. Know why? Because it's basically just a re-telling of the movie with a small amount of analysis. So heres what I'm gonna do- REVIEW IT.

First of all, I'll go on the record saying that I'm a huge Wrestling fan, but also a huge Movie fan. So I'm gonna be reviewing this in Movie mode.

Now, I've spoken to a few people about this, I've also read a few reviews on this, and I'm trying not to cloud my judgement before I write my reviews, but some people have compared it to Rocky, although if I'm going to be honest, I haven't seen it. The premise is simple; A broken down, 80s Wrestler is struggling to make a living, working weekdays in a convenience store and on weekends, wrestling at low rate shows.

Well, that's putting it REALLY simply. I'd be typing for a while and basically re-telling the story if I wasn't putting it simply.

Now I'll say this- Mickey Rourke, did an outstanding job in this, he did an overall amazing job playing the beaten-down-has-been-Wrestler, I think the expressions on his face say it all. Throughout the whole film, I could see the pain that he was trying to emote. Really well done by Rourke on his part, the dialogue was well written, acted flawlessly by the cast. There were very few negatives, if any, in this movie, one I will point out which really seemed to confuse me, was the expressions on Marisa Tomei's face at times; there would be a uplifting moment with herself and Rourke, but her face would just sort of...Drop. Yeah, I don't get it either, but it's one scene in particular, which I won't mention as to not give anything away, but I just thought I'd point that out.

The script, like I said was well written, I had no qualms with the actors' dialogue, but the story, the plot- Ahh well...Thinking on it, there really isn't a plot, it just, seems to flow along but not really go anywhere. I mean, sure it has action, and blood, and all that, but the story doesn't really go anywhere. It just sort of, stops. You have all this stuff happening at the beginning, you have a middle, you have the part in between the middle and the end, but...No end. Its just stops. Doesn't end, stops. Trust me, there's a difference. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about, if not, watch it. Buy it, rent it, borrow it, just watch it.

One thing I simply must acknowledge is the scene on the pier with Evan Rachel Wood. I had to say, the chemistry between herself and Rourke was amazing. I know the story behind Rourke's tears, but it looked great on screen. The dialogue in that particular scene, was I think the best chunk from the movie.

Overall, it's FAR from being a bad movie, just the fact that it doesn't really have a primary plot, just a bunch of subplots that ultimately link to one conclusion ruined it a little. Not enough for it to be considered a bad movie though.

Now I think if you're a huge Wrestling fan, it's going to be an amazing watch. I would HIGHLY recommend watching this. If your in the mood for a little emotion, I guess this would be a good one to watch. Just a fan of film? You've probably seen this already.

I'd give this a 9/10.

Karan.

Kazed

I'm Kazed, the Administrator/Co-Founder of Movieville.org. I love films, which was why I started this site, as an outlet to post reviews. From there, we began posting news bits, then trailers. I've