Movie Review: The Wrestler

The Wrestler: The Promise Of The Eighties Fulfilled

"I thought my talent would transcend my outspokenness. I was wrong. I'm willing to give them 100 per cent this time. I just want a second chance at Hollywood."
-- Mickey Rourke sometime in 1994

“I'm an old broken down piece of meat and I deserve to be all alone, I just don't want you to hate me.”
-- Randy “The Ram” Robinson from The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke delivers the most astounding cinematic comeback since Terence Stamp in The Limey and Peter Fonda in Ulee’s Gold. Mickey Rourke is Randy “The Ram” Robinson in Darren Aronofsky’s bleak and emotional character study. It is not enough to say that Rourke gives one of the most iconic performances in recent years; this is more than his resurrection as many have suggested. The Wrestler is the perfect fusion of art and life-- Mickey Rourke’s art and life. The power of the role would crush a lesser actor. The gravity of the role seems fitting as a parallel for the life and times of Mickey Rourke. Art has never imitated life so vividly or profoundly as it does in The Wrestler. I wonder if Robert D. Siegel wrote it with Rourke in mind. After watching the film, I will never imagine anyone else playing the character. Nicolas Cage was attached to this film at one time; it would not have worked nearly as well with him. It is a daring character study that reconfirms Darren Aronofsky’s skill behind the camera. He has done away with most of his visionary tricks which he used in his previous films. Here he goes back to basics by showing a keener eye than some of the elders who have gone the same route. If this is a comeback tale for Mickey Rourke, then it is also a comeback tale for Aronofsky as well. He is a brilliant filmmaker whose previous film, The Fountain, failed to register with critics and audiences, but was still an incredibly beautiful and moving film. With the positive reception The Wrestler is receiving, people will seek out The Fountain and give it another chance.

It is a year of great comeback performances. Earlier this year, Robert Downey Jr. gave a rousing performance in Iron Man. Who else could pull off Tony Stark? Downey’s personal life was tailor made for the character. Given Tony Stark’s background-- the fusion of the character’s life with Mr. Downey’s past was the perfect combination of cinematic bliss. I would never want to see anyone else portray Tony Stark. Mr. Downey has made the role his own. In the same way, given Mr. Rourke’s life outside movies-- most notably his foray into boxing in the early Nineties, The Wrestler seems tailor made for him. The promise of the Eighties was fading away once the Nineties came along. Mickey Rourke was a powerhouse in such films as Rumble Fish, Diner, The Pope Of Greenwich Village, Year Of The Dragon, 9½ Weeks, Angel Heart, A Prayer For The Dying and Barfly. There was no one quite like him. He had dazzling screen presence in these films. In the late Eighties, he made two films that seem prophetic-- Homeboy and Johnny Handsome. In Homeboy, he plays an aging boxer, Johnny Walker. Walker is getting too old to box, but it is the only thing he can do well. It is a precursor to The Wrestler by a good twenty years, but Rourke does not have the scars and mileage to make the part work as well as he would now. The Wrestler seems to be the perfect conclusion to a journey that began twenty years ago. Homeboy seems to have given Mr. Rourke an appetite for boxing. It is Walter Hill’s Johnny Handsome that also plays like a horrific precursor to Mr. Rourke’s future as well. In the film, he plays a deformed gangster who is double-crossed by his partners after a successful heist. He goes to prison and after several years is put into a rehabilitation program. He is given a new lease on life as a doctor rebuilds his face. He is released on parole. Can the new face make him change his ways? No, he wants revenge. Both films serve as a chilling prologue to The Wrestler. Darren Aronofsky is similar to the Forest Whitaker character, Dr. Steven Fisher, in Johnny Handsome-- he rebuilds Mickey Rourke’s face just the way the director rebuilds Rourke’s career. The Nineties were not kind to Mickey Rourke; most of the films were forgettable. He turned down the role of Butch in Pulp Fiction. Would things have turned out differently had he taken the part? Yet, he reminded us of what he was capable of in small supporting roles in films as diverse as The Rainmaker, Buffalo 66, Animal Factory, The Pledge, Once A Upon A Time In Mexico and Man On Fire. In 2005, it seemed he had come back in some ways with roles in Sin City and Domino. He seemed comfortable in both roles; especially as Marv in Sin City. Marv represented the bulked out wreckage of a soul whose best days were behind him. But Marv was nothing more than a warm up for Randy “The Ram” Robinson. It seems that Mickey Rourke has been waiting his whole life to play the part, but he needed the years, mileage and autobiography to make it work. His life’s story only adds to the film’s poignancy. In The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke has come home.

Randy “The Ram” Robinson is living in the wreckage of his own life. Randy used to be a very popular wrestler back in his heyday in the Eighties. He looks like a cross between Randy “The Macho Man” Savage and Mike Tramp, the lead singer of Eighties hair metal band, White Lion. Randy is a hulking giant who staggers from situation to situation. The supermarkets, strip joints, run down amphitheaters and trailer parks of New Jersey serve as the battered and decaying landscape of Mr. Aronofsky’s film. Maryse Alberti’s cinematography captures the bleakness of the surroundings perfectly. When Randy is not wrestling in an independent match, he is preparing for his matches, working his day job in a supermarket, sleeping in his trailer when he is not locked out of it or hanging out at the local strip club socializing with Marisa Tomei’s Cassidy. The film shows that the sport of professional wrestling is make believe-- it is a series of theatrics which is rehearsed before each match. The sport itself may be theatrics, but Mr. Aronofsky gives the film a gritty realism that gives the sport a seriousness it has not had in the movies.

As a stripper, Marisa Tomei serves as a parallel to Rourke’s character. Each character is selling a fantasy to the consumer. Mr. Aronofsky is also making parallels to the fantasy of moviemaking. All three are selling a fantasy. The symbolism is not lost on us; the film never condescends to the audience. The world of independent wrestling is given an honest and raw examination. Randy displays a level of professionalism in and out of the ring. For such a staged sport, the fights are choreographed with realistic blood and pain. We get to see the tricks of the trade-- especially a fight involving broken glass, barbed wire and use of a staple gun. Yes, the participants agree to all of this beforehand. The wrestler goes to great lengths for his craft just as the most dedicated actor goes to great lengths for a great performance.

Mickey Rourke is in every scene of the film. It is easy to forget that there are other characters in the film. It is a small film, but there are two other characters worthy of discussion. Randy’s relationships with Marisa Tomei’s Cassidy and his estranged daughter, Stephanie played by Evan Rachel Wood display his struggle to exist outside the ring. He wants to be more than friends with Cassidy. She has a golden rule never to go out with customers. Randy does not seem to understand this rule. It is ironic since he is part of a phony world as well. The stripper does not really love the customer. Watching the two act opposite each is an excellent treat. Marisa Tomei peaked very early with a best supporting actress Oscar for My Cousin Vinny; the rest of the Nineties were not as kind to her. Untamed Heart, Unhook The Stars and Slums Of Beverly Hills were the few bright spots. In The Bedroom made her relevant again for the new century. She came back with a vengeance in last year’s Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead. She did an honorable job of channeling Naomi Klein in this year’s War, Inc. She hits all the right notes as Cassidy. The scene where she indulges Randy for a beer is priceless. The nostalgia for the Eighties is beautifully laid out as Randy starts dancing to an old Eighties heavy metal song. It is a funny and touching scene. The use of Eighties heavy metal music is used very well here. It deeply underscores how Randy’s prime was back then and not now. The music serves as a nice homage to the era. Speaking of music, Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” that plays over the closing credits is simply beautiful. Longtime Darren Aronofsky collaborator, Clint Mansell delivers another distinguished score; his score for The Fountain is intoxicating. Randy’s relationship with his daughter is difficult to the say the least. He has been an absent father to her. He tries to make amends with her, but he keeps messing it up. It is a small, but important role and Evan Rachel Wood demonstrates why she is one of the best actresses of her generation.

Randy’s life outside of the ring is a mess. He lives for the life inside the ring. He lives for the camaraderie of his fellow wrestlers. He is a role model and idol to the younger wrestlers on the circuit. Yet even within this setting, there is heartbreak and depression. In one scene where Randy goes to a mini convention with other wrestlers, we see the effects of the lifestyle. He and the other wrestlers are there to sell their merchandise and memorabilia. The turnout is not very high at all. The other wrestlers are in bad physical shape. One is in a wheelchair and another is wearing a catheter. Randy is not in the best shape either. His heart is giving him problems and he is warned by a doctor to stop wrestling. Can he stop? This is his life. It is all he knows how to do. He lives for it and the fans. His job at a local supermarket is dehumanizing to him. His manager is very condescending to him. The ring is all that Randy has. The lifestyle has taken a toll on him-- the steroids and the drugs have not helped matters. Yet, his wrestling is all he has at the end of the day.

While the wrestling may not be real, there is nothing fake about Mickey Rourke’s performance in this film. He gives the role of Randy “The Ram” Robinson his all. Without Mr. Rourke’s autobiography, the role and the film would not work as well as it does. Mickey Rourke’s delivers his most honest performance in this brutal role. The Wrestler is a testament to his years in the cinematic wilderness. The film is a testament to him and Darren Aronofsky as well. It is a departure from Darren Aronofsky’s previous films: Pi, Requiem For A Dream and The Fountain. The Wrestler shows that Darren Aronofsky is a truly versatile filmmaker. Thanks to Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke has fulfilled the promise of greatness we all believed he had.