DVDpendence . videophile
THE
WRESTLER
With
Mickey
Rourke,
Marisa
Tomei,
Evan
Rachel
Wood,
Mark
Margolis,
Todd
Barry,
Judah
Friedlander
Written
by Robert
Siegel
Directed
by Darren
Aronofsky
Touted
as the
big
comeback
movie
of Mickey
Rourke,
it is
certainly
a triumphant
one
worthy
of the
awards
he garnered
for
it.
Rourke
has
always
been
a great
actor,
he just
turned
his
back
on the
Hollywood
machine
(which
has
no qualms
in ruining
someone's
career
if they
don't
play
ball).
Along
the
way
Rourke
did
get
some
good
character
roles
as in
Animal
Factory
and
Spun,
but
also
took
crappy
bill-payers
like
playing
the
villain
in Van
Damme
vehicle
Double
Team
- but
in a
substance-free
action
movie
like
this
his
acting
ability
stands
out
even
more
amid
the
wooden
Jean-Claude
and
moronic
basketball
player
Dennis
Rodman.
The
Wrestler
is an
entirely
different
beast.
The
very
talented
director
Darren
Aronofsky
(who
gave
us such
staggering
movies
as Requiem
For
A Dream
and
The
Fountain)
could
not
have
cast
a better
choice
than
Rourke
as the
run
down
pro
wrestler
Randy
“The
Ram”
who'd
gone
from
famous
personality
to down
&
out
small
time
performer,
taking
part
in low
budget
town
hall
shows.
With
his
health
giving
in and
his
financial
situation
dire,
Randy
comes
to realizes
that
he needs
to make
amends
with
his
estranged
daughter,
a fight
that
would
prove
harder
than
the
extreme
amount
of pounding
he'd
taken
throughout
his
career.
Marisa
Tomei
also
went
all
out
in her
role
as the
stripper
for
whom
Randy
has
a soft
spot.
This
movie
maintains
an amazing
balance
between
utter
impacting
drama
and
raw
emotion,
and
exciting,
gritty
wrestling
sequences.
Aronofsky
went
from
one
extreme
to another
in that
his
next
project
Black
Swan
deals
with
an ex-ballet
dancer(!).
One
highly
disappointing
aspect
of this
South
African
release
has
nothing
to do
with
the
movie
itself,
but
its
technical
side
- which
is the
aspect
ratio,
presented
in full
screen
as opposed
the
widescreen.
WTF!
The
only
extras
include
the
trailer
and
a short
EPK
with
some
behind
the
scenes
footage
with
cast
&
crew
interview
clips.
6
/ B
- Paul
Blom
0
1 2
3 4
5 6
-
A -
B
- C
