The Wrestler
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DVD details
Actor: Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Mickey RourkeBrand: ROURKE,MICKEY
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-04-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Fox Searchlight
DVD Reviews of The Wrestler
DVD Review: Out of the ring,In your Face!
Summary: 5 Stars
The wrestler is a movie about one mans struggle to balance his fading career along side his equaly fading personal relationships. The movie is shot in a somewhat documentery style and compliments the directors vision of In your face realism.
My mom and I went to see this movie together when it first hit theaters, and I must say, that she is not a wrestling "Fan". I, on the other hand, grew up watching the likes of HULK HOGAN, RIC FLAIR and many other wrestling Greats. I was prepared to see 'Behind the scenes' action, and it deliverd. Not only does this movie pay numerous homage to the superstars of today. It also shows you a side of the 'one's' who's names arn't in lights,but should always be remembered as the Greats that they are. There is just enough humor,emotion and complex relationships in Randy (The wrestler's) life to keep a non-fan sated, but its obvious attempt to touch a fan is most profound. It succeds with flying colors! For the love of the "fans" thats my focus on this review.
Randy's relationships with the 'Fan's' go even deeper than the ones in his personal life. This is best demonstrated as his 'character' is seen greeting and acknowledging two handicapped "fans" just outside the door to ringside. Here's two fans that probably know everything there is to know about "THE RAM", but perhaps know very little about Randy. I doubt, that they would (want to know),because the lack of respect that most of these legends recieve outside the ring is atrocious.(the scenes at the deli where he tries to use humor to get him through the day are remarkably well executed). I like these segments because it speaks to me about the duelality of man. I laughed quite a few times during this movie most noted are: "Come on guy's let's go take a shower together" this shows the actual passion that those in the business have for the business and I lmao.
I choked up a few times; The part where he plays an old video game with a little boy, who was not really interested in hearing stories about the RAM. That was sad to me because; Back in the early 80's they were devoid of proper media marketing such as internet, dvds, cds etc..not to mention the lack of popularity WRESTLING had on the mainstream. This is reinforced by a later scene in which you see former stars at a fan signing laying there heads on tables while another is actualy sewing. The young fans dont care about them any more.They are left with a disregard that is tougher to live with, than the actual injuries that they have had to endure. Which goes to show you that you can be propelled to success overnight but the slow and rapid decent down can be devistating.
As far as homages, there are plenty, but most important is a cameo appearence by WWE superstar "R-TRUTH" Where he asks the Ram "so how you been man?" Randy reply's "Hangin' and swangin' my brotha." that is priceless, toped off with "I'm buy'n". It's something only a fan can "TRULY" appreciate and it brings a smile to my face everytime. It can be upsetting at times knowing the sacrifice and commitment these athletes give to the fans everynight,and for some (fans and superstars alike) thats the only family they have left. This movie picks you up and it slams you back down again.
At the core of this roller coaster ride of a movie, is a "Rocky" like trbute, where on a payphone we hear the Ram say "I dont give a s--- I just want to wrestle" and Balls to the Wall by Accept (see lyrics) pounds in the background! MAN I jump out of my seat and shout for joy! This is a really good movie for fans and non-fans alike, and although as a "fan" it makes me want to stand up and cheer I cant because Im too "floored" to move. So YEAH it might be fake, but because of this film maybe, JUST ONCE, everyone can finally understand, just what wrestling entertainment is realy all about!!!
DVD Review: Role of Rourke's life, Tomei the real star
Summary: 4 Stars
I've never been a big fan of Mickey Rourke. I always thought he was more sideshow buffoon than legitimate talent. That he squandered whatever skill he had with forays into boxing and his battles with various toxins is irrelevant. The plain truth is that there were no movies where I thought he played outside of himself and I was never impressed with the guy's work. I still feel that way. Nonetheless, The Wrestler is the perfect vehicle for him. This is acting as reality show and Rourke consumes the role of Ram, the washed up wrestler. The wheezing, grimacing, limping, pondering, seething, self-destructive role and actor often seem one and the same. Rourke pulls off the performance of a lifetime, largely because he is given a role so close to his own reality. What variances the original script had from Rourke's life were augmented at his request to better complete the picture. Don't misunderstand me; Mickey Rourke isn't alone in the Hollywood casting agency of stereotyped personalities, endlessly repeating their signature moves. Nicholson, DeNiro, Pacino are all great actors, but all-too-often they fall back on their bag of tricks. Rourke isn't nearly as talented as those giants, but it doesn't matter. Like all the legends of screen, he found the definitive signature role.
Marisa Tomei was the real gem of the story for me, however. Tomei showed courage in playing a character that is nude in most of her scenes and she delivers a brilliant performance. Enduring the merciless taunts or the hurtful disinterest from the crowd she attempts to entertain with the most basic tools, she demonstrates the vulnerability and fragile nature of such a career. Both Rourke and Tomei are performers past their shelf life because their success is based so exclusively on the acceptance of their bodies by a fastidious public. These are people trying to find themselves between the persona under which they perform and the reality that confronts them when the spotlight is shut off. Rourke played a role that mirrored his own near-tragic career path, but Marisa Tomei is the real actor here, playing a character that few actresses would have the fearlessness to accept and one that it is safe to say is far from her personal life.
The Wrestler is an exceptional study in damaged individuals who lead lives far from the norm. The problem, as Rourke's Ram puts it, is that the real world doesn't care about them beyond the stage. Both suffer in their personal lives because they can't balance one with the other. Robin can't stop being Ram, to the detriment of his relationship with his daughter and Pam can't put aside Cassidy long enough to distinguish between the customer and the man who truly cares for her. The ending is expertly ambiguous because who can say what these sad characters will do next? It's just as easy to imagine the worst as it is to imagine a happy ending. And that's the reality of life.
DVD Review: WARNING! Portraits wrestling like it's not real
Summary: 1 Stars
This movie is actually OK, but it portraits wrestling as if it wasn't a battle to the death. This might be because real wrestling is not suitable to a younger audience which the makers most likely wanted to attract (they play videogames in the movie, as just one example, and the wrestler talks to a couple of kids at one point), or the special effects neccessary to make the death scenes look real were just too expensive. And the fact that a pro wrestler would work in a grocery store when not on stage killing his opponent is hard to swallow.
There are just too many errors here to rate the film higher than one star.
DVD Review: Good? Certainly. Great? Maybe. Perfect? Not quite.
Summary: 4 Stars
Even though he has only directed four released movies so far, Darren Aronofsky already has quite a interestingly diverse body of work. His first movie Pi is a cerebral thriller about how far intellectual curiosity should take us when it is tempered with human weakness. His follow up Requiem for a Dream is a cautionary tale about the impossibility of living one's dreams when one lives in a surrogate dream world such as addiction. Then there was The Fountain, his not-as-popular foray into science fiction which concerns the very nature of life and death. With The Wrestler, he seems to take it down a notch or two by exploring the low-brow professional wrestling culture. Or does he?
Professional wrestling is very easy to snub your nose at with its soap opera with muscles theatrics, but when one looks behind the scenes and learns the true stories of these wrestlers it is tremendously fascinating. There are people like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair who ruled pro wrestling during the 1980s and 1990s. Both of whom faced financial meltdown due to extravagant living and marital infidelity. There were the tragic Von Erich brothers who enjoyed rock star fame during the early to mid 1980s. Since 1993, only one of the five brothers is still alive. And there was the brutal murder of Bruiser Brody in 1988 that continues to arouse suspicion to this day. Whether you like to acknowledge it or not, the outside stories of professinal wrestling contain all the elements of every great Greek drama or Shakespearean tragedy - adultery, murder, betrayal, greed, and suicide. Perhaps Aronofsky wasn't scraping off the barrel's bottom, was he?
If there is one thing all four of Aronosky's films have in common, it is that all the lead characters are following a destructive obsession. There is the mathmetician who wants to unlock the secrets of the universe; the mother, son, girlfriend, and best friend who succumb to addiction; the grief-stricken doctor fixated on conquering death; and the far past his prime wrestler still pursuing a lifestyle that has ravaged his body and destroyed his personal relationships. Out of all four, I will have to say the Wreslter has the greatest emotional impact thanks mostly to Mickey Rourke.
Love him or hate him, Rourke leaves no doubt that he poured his blood (yes, the blood IS real when he cuts his forehead early in the movie), sweat, and tears into the role. Here is a guy who spent much of his career as tabloid fodder. He made some bad life choices and was in several embarrassingly bad movies like Wild Orchid and Double Team. If there is one thing in his life that Rourke got right (besides Diner), it was that he played Randy The Ram. I honestly thought I was looking at some broken down pro-wrestler and not an actor. That's what great acting is all about. He didn't just go to the gym and dye his hair blond. I believe he almost completely had to relearn walking and breathing. Just watch how he limps and wheezes through the whole movie. Furthermore, he was able to channel his bad real-life experiences into the character. In his case, bad experience turned into good.
Sadly, I really wanted to give the movie five stars but could not. I just didn't find Marisa Tomei convincing as a past her prime stripper. The scene in which one of the patrons insults her because of her age seemed somewhat unrealistic. It is not just that Tomei is an amazingly beautiful actress for her age, she's an amazingly beautiful actress period. I don't mean to let my personal standards of feminine beauty get in the way of my review, but they should have picked someone else to play a haggard, worn-down stripper. Plus, I found the scene with the woman with the firefighter fetish to be neither funny nor sexy - just annoying.
In closing, I must say that while I did not find The Wrestler to be the perfect movie that so many other reviewers have, it is still very good. Upon closer examination, it not only shows how difficult pro wrestling is, but also how difficult acting can be. Regardless of the mistakes that Rourke has made in the past or may make in future, he has earned my respect as an actor. Which is a lot more than I can say for the tabloid writers. Give them a loaf of bread and a single fish. What will they be left with at the end of the day? Exactly.
DVD Review: Gritty, Down-to-earth Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Mickey Rourke plays an over-the-hill professional wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, eeking out a living in the sport when health issues force him to leave the ring and deal with life on the outside. Along the way he seeks companionship with a stripper (Marisa Tomei) past her peak who isn't convinced she's exactly overjoyed with his attention. Randy tries to become reaquainted with his daughter after many years apart, and initially is rebuffed but the girl reconsiders, and just when it appears he has something new in his life, he blows a date with her and she bitterly sends him on his way. Randy has a bad day behind the meat counter in his part-time job trying to earn a buck, and quickly realizes the only life he has is in the ring and, despite a recent heart attack, decides to return.
The film does a creditable job taking the viewer into the make believe world of wrestling as an entertainment device. Rourke looks and plays the part convincingly. The fight scenes are sweaty and realistic; interesting also are scenes showing the wrestlers choreographing the day's fight action. This is a gritty down-to earth movie and somewhat of a downer, but worth a watch especially if you are a fan of wrestlig and/or like Rourke who seems to thrive in roles playing struggling losers. The blu-ray PQ is very good but it does have a slight grainy quality to it which I guess adds to the realism.
Description of The Wrestler
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 21-APR-2009
Media Type: DVD
The mystery of Mickey Rourke's career comes to a grungy apotheosis in The Wrestler, the much-battered actor's triumphant return to the top rope. He plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a heavily scarred and medicated battler who's twenty years past his best moment in the ring. But he still schleps to every second-rate fight card he can get to, stringing out the paychecks (more likely a fistful of cash) and nursing what's left of his pride. His attempts to adjust to a more normal kind of life form the most absorbing sections in the movie, whether it's flirting with a stripper (Marisa Tomei is in good form, in every sense), establishing a bond with his understandably angry daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), or working behind the deli counter at a nondescript megastore. Rourke is commanding in the role; he obviously spent hours in the gym and the tanning salon, and his ease with the semi-documentary style adopted by director Darren Aronofsky allows him to naturalistically interact with the colorful real-life wrestlers who crowd the movie's ultra-believable locations. All of which helps distract from the film's overall adherence to ancient formula. You might find yourself waiting for the scene where the risk-taking Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) pulls the switch and reveals his true motives for pursuing this otherwise sentimental story, but there's no switch. The Wrestler is an old-fashioned hoke machine, given grit by an actor who doesn't seem to be so much performing the role of ravaged survivor as embodying it. --Robert Horton
Stills from The Wrestler (Click for larger image)
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