Reviews

The Wrestler tells the story of a man who is past his prime and facing the consequences of his past decisions. He is alone, friendless, and without much to look forward to. He strives for redemption, attempting reconciliation with his estranged daughter and building a meaningful relationship with an ageing stripper. When he fails at both, he returns to the only place where he is accepted, which will ultimately destroy him.

Yes, this review contains spoilers, but I don't think it spoils anything. The narrative arc in the movie is certainly worthy of reflection. It applies to much outside the world of wrestling. We can contrast the Ram's situation with Pam's; she too is facing the twilight of her livelihood, but she has a plan and is working at it. We can contemplate the self-destructive nature of people. And yet, even if you read the script front to back, it's still well worth watching this movie, which succeeds all the more on the strength of the acting. Much has been said about Mickey Rourke's performance, and rightfully so, but I thought all three leads gave convincing performances.

David Simon has stated that the main character of the Wire is the city of Baltimore. I would be remiss not to mention the other lead character in this movie, the industry of professional wrestling. Many people have written that you don't even need to like wrestling to enjoy this movie. They are right. And some have said that you could substitute the experiences of the Ram for those of someone in another line of work and it would be equivalent. They are partially right. But for me, part of what makes this movie hard to watch, but impossible to turn away from, is the portrayal of an industry filled with examples of people dying well before their time, very often of heart attacks or overdoses relating to drug and alcohol abuse, the inevitable toll of years of physical sacrifice and inadequate support. One of the most poignant scenes in the movie involves the Ram at a fan meet-and-greet in a legion hall. He looks around and sees how the other old wrestlers present have canes and other reminders of their infirmity. And they are the "lucky" ones who made it. And this is what they are reduced to, signing autographs and selling merchandise for a few bucks to whoever will still come by, out of loyalty or curiosity.

This is a haunting movie. It's not just because of Rourke, who is amazing. Rourke makes it better than it would have been, but the story is the platform that makes such a performance possible. This one's going to stay with me for a while.

This movie actually reminds me a fair amount of Apocalypse Now. Obviously the premise is inverted; in this movie the protagonists are hunted rather than hunting (although they are hunting a boat, I suppose). But in both cases there is a ceaseless progression from one increasingly surreal episode to the next. The lack of exposition feeds the sense of uncertainty (and apparently leads to some great frustration in some of the other reviews). Where the movie succeeds is not in an overriding message or in the story as a whole, but in individually powerful scenes such as the birth of the child, the entrance into the refugee camp where people are being executed, the shooting of Julian. Where things break down completely into chaos I was also reminded of Full Metal Jacket.

The story as a whole has its weak points, and this is even if you accept the premise that hunting down a boat to give them a baby may somehow save humanity. I find it hard to believe that a large number of soldiers, seeing their first baby in 18 years, would allow themselves to be distracted by anything long enough to let it get away. I also found that the Fishes had an almost magical ability to track down the protagonists wherever they went. Jasper can hide his pot dealing apparatus from the authorities for years, but the Fishes sniff them out almost instantly. They disappear into a secure refugee camp where nobody knows who they are, but when chaos starts the Fishes show up. And for all the size of the Fish movement, it's the same three or four folks who keep bumping into Theo. I feel the story would have been more effective if the Fishes had simply not been seen again after Jasper's place (if they really even needed to be seen there). Fascist British troops and the denizens of the camp itself could surely have provided sufficient villainy for the dramatic tension towards the end, and it would have felt a bit less contrived that way.

Ultimately I ended up liking the idea of the movie better than the execution, due to these writing issues. Keeping things mysterious is a nice alternative to the exposition-laden alternative, but in this case doing so fails to obfuscate the internal inconsistencies that tend to drive some of us nuts.

I'm a bit surprised at the vehemence of some of these reviews. I am not a comic book guy. I liked Tim Burton's Batman back in the dawn of time and by and large the rest of the genre I can do without. I only attended Green Hornet because some friends were going, and at first I had it confused with the Green Lantern and was expecting another "gritty/serious" (and cringe-inducing) superhero flick. As a result I was pleasantly surprised to see a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, has a certain level of ironic detachment, and showcases a hilarious villain. If you see a scene where the bad guy has a chance to wipe out the hero but fails because he insisted on reciting his new tag line before delivering the final blow, and you DON'T think that's awesome, then this movie isn't for you.

Of course, this isn't Citizen Kane, either. Seth Rogen is a bit too successful at portraying an obnoxious character. The chemistry between the Hornet and Kato seems forced at first, as is the love triangle later with Lenore. They can come up with all this crazy technology at the drop of a hat but their bug doesn't have wireless communication. The best approach to all of this is to remember this isn't a good movie so much as an entertaining one, and this frees you up to enjoy the fight scenes, one-liners, and the antics of Bloodnofsky.

The premise behind the movie is a chase across the country to win $2 million dollars, and the lengths to which people will be driven due to greed. Wisely, relatively little time is spent setting up the pieces on the board, and the pacing is brisk to move from joke to joke quickly. A solid ensemble cast and lots of novel ideas make this cross-country race very entertaining and engaging just about all the way through. Just do yourself a favour and turn it off when the band Smashmouth appears, because the ending is unnecessarily moralistic and preachy, and takes the fun out of the rest of the experience. These are not characters we are meant to like, so why should we care if they learn a lesson, in an unconvincing way to boot? Maybe with a bit more shamelessness this would have been a total triumph, but as it is this is an example of the journey being more important than the destination. All told there is too much hilarity to write it all off based on the ending. Just turn it off at Smashmouth.