The Wrestler

An emotional smackdown. Rourke's never been better, and the change of pace and texture suits Aronofsky perfectly. "The Raging Bull" of wrestling movies? Oh, go on then.

The Wrestler is like "Rocky" made by the Scorsese of "Mean Streets." It's the rare movie fairy tale that's also a bravura work of art.

The Wrestler presents a fascinating peek at the workings of the pro wrestling industry (the tenderness and humor the athletes share backstage is the complete opposite of the ferocity they display in the ring).

It's bleak, credulity straining and often stomach-turning, but it definitely works as a heart-tugging character study, and Rourke's performance as the has-been title character is golden.

As far as I'm concerned, you can keep your Sean Penns and your Brad Pitts and your Frank Langellas; if there's any justice in the world, this year's best actor Academy Award will be going home with Rourke.

Bolstered by a career-best performance from Mickey Rourke and outstanding work by Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.

Rourke does strong, sensitive work here, which will cheer his old-time admirers and win him new fans...But the movie itself is pretty bad.

The Wrestler is one of those rare, perfect films. It excels on every level of film making, and tells the haunting story of a man faced with his own mortality, and the conflict between the world inside and outside of the ring. Mickey Rourke gives a career defining performance, and his costars are all equal to the task. The writing is breath taking, and the beautifully executed tracking shots completely put the audience in the emotional states of the characters. The Wrestler is a must-see movie.

Instant Classic, and it is a must see for any wrestling fan, but it is still excellent even if you don't watch wrestling. The story was amazing and Mickey Rourke played the part amazingly. Pure excellence.

In what may as well have been a dramatised version of his life, Mickey Rourke puts in a career-defining (and comeback) performance as a warm hearted yet broken down and aged wrestler going by the alias of Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, now working part-time in a supermarket deli counter. A particular moment, when Randy is walking from the warehouse to the store, is truly brilliant, Aronofsky attempts to recreate a wrestlers walk towards the entrance ramp, and thus Randy slowly makes his way there, with the chants and screams of fans in his hand, epic. We see a wonderfully constructed opening montage of various magazine and paper covers and cutouts from the 80s showing the hey day of The Ram, all leading up to the present day. Rourke has embraced the character will a full steam ahead attitude, flowing bleached blond hair, fake tan and a physique resembling that of an older and battle-heardened wrestler, the fitness is there, but the age shows. Its a simple film redefining the message of forgiveness and redemption mixed into a excellent tale of drugs, sex and wrestling. Rourke brilliantly portrays his emotion through his famous skill of method acting (check out his clip from The Expendables) and through the masterful direction of Darren Aronofsky. In this film, its the little thing that make the most difference to the story being told. Rourke wears a jacket in the film held together by duct tape, this already shows perhaps his financial difficulty, or his hesitation to move on from the past. While not quite as hostile as Jake 'the snake' Roberts, Rourkes character could have very well been based on him. The dialogue is simple yet heartfelt, with an Oscar-worthy performance from Marisa Tomei, who is Randy's long time friend who has a full-time job as a stripper. When Randy has a health scare after a match (and a brutal one at that), he begins, perhaps too little too late, about chaging his career for good It simply falls into place, there may be some scenes hard to watch for many, there is humour in many aspects, but it is Rourke who has defined this movie as a standout masterpiece, beautiful filmmaking, wonderful acting but most importantly, a heart-wrenching story of despair, bravery, stupidity and love, see this as soon as possible.

The stellar performances make up for a cliched plot and a weak script.

A well acted, well shot and refreshingly different film which is unfortunately too predictable, too slowly paced and too deviod of really exciting or intense moments to be worth more than one watch. By all means give it a go, but don't buy into the hype that it's something spectacular. When the end credits role it doesn't feel as if anything ever really got going, and the conflicts, predicaments and dilemas in the movie are pretty weak. Fans of wrestling may get a bit more out of it, but to people like me it's just an OK movie.