"Who are you fighting?"The Fighter is an excellent film, at turns hilarious, heartbreaking and harrowing, often within the same scene. Christian Bale is receiving a lot of plaudits for his incredible magnetic performance that hooks the audience from the film's first frames, but what should not be overlooked are the other excellent leading performances, from a feisty Amy Adams to the remarkable Melissa Leo and indeed Mark Wahlberg, who absolutely shines and shows that he can deliver a layered performance in the hands of an actors' director. David O. Russell's scattershot directorial stance is more muted in this film but it gives the film terrific momentum and allows the actors to show real depth and response as the story develops. The film treads a very fine line between Hollywood gloss and the true story on which the film is based - brought into sharp focus by the brief actual footage of the brothers in the credits - but The Fighter creates a credible world with finely-drawn characters and performances, and its tale of physical and mental destruction and redemption is absorbing and hugely rewarding.
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