THE FIGHTER is the true story of Massachussets prize fighter Micky Ward, revolving around his rise to power in the world of boxing. Focussing in on that said rise and Micky’s relationships with his family, in particular his brother and former boxer himself Dicky Ecklund, played by Christian Bale and mother Alice; Melissa Leo in an Oscar-winning supporting role.

I have had the pleasure of seeing THE FIGHTER three times now. I first had the opportunity to see the film at a press screening just days prior to its theatrical release and if you pardon the pun, was simply knocked out by it. I have seen it with a bunch of fellow THN writers at the DVD launch at Bethnall Green’s ‘home of boxing’ York Hall, and I have obviously just pressed the ‘stop’ button after viewing it on DVD.  I love boxing movies in general, in particular  the two obvious ones ROCKY and RAGING BULL, but THE FIGHTER is something special. It could be the superb performances from the award winning Bale and Leo, or the equally convincing Mark Wahlberg in the lead role and the superb Amy Adams as love interest, and future wife and supporting arm of Ward, Charlene. It could be the superb direction and pace of the film. It could be the wonderfully authentic fight scenes. It could even be the ‘heart and fire’ feel of the movie, but to be honest I truly believe that it’s the characters themselves as the main reason as to why I love this movie so much, and after watching the film, along with the bonus material and seeing the real people behind the film’s story, I love it even more.

I have thouroughly reviewed the movie previously, so I will concentrate on the extras that the DVD release has to offer.

On the DVD disc, which is the format that I was provided with by the film company, we have a feature length commentary with director David O’Russell, which is pretty in depth, personal and informative. We also have a very good 28 minute behind the scenes documentary entitled The Warrior’s Code: Filming The Fighter, which unlike any other recent behind the scenes feature, features interviews with the actors, filmmaker AND the real life characters that are being portrayed in the movie. We get to see interviews with the main people in Micky’s life, along with extended members of the Ward family who we don’t see in the movie. The doc also reveals particular elements of the process in making the film and some secrets that reveal that all of the fight scenes were filmed as ‘live’ by an HBO crew in just one take. They did it over and over again, but over the course of just one day for each fight, which was interesting. There’s also the revelation that O’Keefe in the film was actually played by the real-life Mickey O’Keefe, which surprised me as I was sure that I had see the guy in countless other movies as a character actor, but THE FIGHTER is his sole credit. We also have another documentary called KEEPING THE FAITH, which again focusses in with interviews with the real people behind the film, and not any of the actors, which again is refreshing.

Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter

We are also treated to a string of deleted scenes from the film, as regular THN readers will know that I am not a huge fan of. However, I loved the first scene which introduces the Ward famly including each of the seven sisters. There is an option where you can have a director’s commentary playing over the top of these scenes, which sees O’Russell explaining why they were omitted from the film etc etc. Lastly, we have the trailer for the movie, which is now a feature that is always expected.

To round-up, THE FIGHTER is possibly a must have for any DVD collection, and I would reccommend to anyone. I have, as I have mentioned seen the film a few times with a lot of different people, and everyone, male and female have walked away having thouroughly been moved by it. That last scene still gets me, both emotionally and physically. There are not many movies that have me sat there in tears and jumping up and punching the air within a matter of seconds… Superb filmmaking, and a remarkable film.

Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo
Directed by: David O’Russell

Unmissable.
THE FIGHTER is available on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK from Monday 20th June 2011.