Life rarely gives second chances. However, with The Wrestler, director Darren Aronofsky and actor Mickey Rourke have cheated the odds.
In crafting a film tailor-made for its damaged star, Aronofsky has crafted a stellar comeback after The Fountain. And Rourke – once hailed as "the next Marlon Brando" before self-destructing in the early 1990's – has finally fulfilled his early promise, and delivered a legendary performance.
Mickey Rourke is The Wrestler
Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a wrestling "babyface" who has fallen on hard times. He can barely make rent on his dilapidated trailer, his health is failing, and he's reduced to headlining shows at veterans' halls and high schools. That is, when he's not tossing boxes at a food store, and enduring endless abuse from his nebbish boss (Todd Barry). Plus, his college-age daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) wants nothing to do with him.
The closest thing Randy has to a friend is Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), an aging stripper. Despite her rule about never getting involved with customers, she's increasingly attracted to this broken-down ring warrior.
But Fate may have handed Randy another shot. For the 20th anniversary of his most famous bout, a promoter has put together a reunion match between The Ram and his old nemesis, The Ayatollah (Ernest Miller).
Can Randy get his second chance at redemption? Unlike most Hollywood movies, things are not that simple here.
Darren Aronofsky's Unflinching Look at Wrestling, Wrecked Lives
Aronofsky shows professional wrestling at its most real: overly-muscled men pounding the crap out of each other in the ring, and exchanging beers and hugs in the dressing room afterwards. One of the movie's funniest moments comes before one show, where wrestlers discuss their routines.
"You can't do a neck hit," one wrestler tells another. "We're doing a neck hit in our show."
"Okay," the second wrestler says. "We'll use a leg shot then."
Aronofsky's biggest coup was scoring Mickey Rourke to play Randy. Multiple plastic surgeries (after an ill-fated boxing career) have given Rourke's face a waxy, half-melted quality. It's well-suited for an aged babyface who fought in one too many matches.
Rourke's well-publicized experience has given him a unique perspective on his character: he plays Randy so well because he *was* Randy, and he's smart enough to use his old demons to drive the performance. No other actor could have pulled off this role quite this well.
Tomei and Wood also do excellent work as Randy's love interest and estranged daughter respectively, but it's Rourke's movie from start to finish. Ninety percent of the movie (especially the ending) is from Randy's perspective, and that's the way it should be. Kudos to scriptwriter Robert D. Siegel for not taking the easy way out.
The only quibble is the constant use of "queasy cam": the pseudo-documentary filming style where shaky camera work is an asset not a liability. It's become a cliché for this type of film, but Aronofsky makes it work.
The Final Analysis
The Wrestler is rated R for "violence, sexuality/nudity, language and some drug use." A scene where Randy battles a sado-masochistic wrestler named The Necro Butcher (Dylan Summers) – whose tools of the trade include a staple gun, barbed wire and glass windows – is excruciating to watch.
But it's a hell of a film, and a real comeback for both Rourke and Aronofsky. 9/10.
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