After the film ends you get a glimpse of the real people Wahlberg and Bale are playing in the film. I was glad this happened because it verified the insanity of the characters they were both playing. Bale hit this one out of the damn ballpark. We were brought in by Bale's performance so much, and the character he was playing was so obnoxious that we hated him.
At one point we were wondering why Bale was acting the way he was, and DW said she was so annoyed by it she thought about not finishing the movie. Well, let me just say that when you get further into the film you find out more of the story and this is hands down the best performance Bale has given his entire career.
How to make Wahlberg not sound inadequate after that is near impossible, but he did a great job as well. I liked the fact that he did not act his normal during this film. He had a real person to imitate, and I feel that brought him out of his same old, same old routine. On the note of Wahlberg, let's talk about dedication and determination. Wahlberg started training for this film in 2005 and due to multiple filming setbacks the filming did not start until 2009. Wahlberg continued to train every single day from 2005 until the filming started so he would be always ready when the time came.
Filming and script were great as well. One would think it would help to have real life situations to base off of, but I would venture to say it may make it even harder. The trick with real life situations is to somehow make them interesting and suspenseful. That goal was hit in this film. There were multiple times I wanted to get up and start yelling at Wahlberg's character for what he was doing in the ring. In truth, there were multiple times I wanted to get up and yell at Bale's character also, but for what he was doing out of the ring.
Fight scenes were done very well. There was not a moment during the film that I very obviously could tell it was acted instead of the real deal. Interesting filming techniques were used throughout that made certain parts feel as if they were the real fight footage on TV. Punches, shocks and wounds were all realistic and the fighters made you believe it could have been a real fight you were watching.
Once we were drawn into this film we were hooked. DW had to pee once and I didn't even want to pause the movie. I did, I did..wipe that look of disgust off your face. Suspenseful, great story and script, extremely well acted by all involved (you will extremely hate all of their sisters...and there are 7 of them) and being drawn deeply into the film results in the second 4 star review of the day. Ciao for now and see you for the next review!
I would actually venture to say this film would get a 5 star from me. I think 5 stars are probably just as rare was when you give them. However, the acting was well done, the filming was interesting, fight scenes realistic, the script didn't have any holes, etc. No huge emotional response, yeah, but the rest was actually very well done. You did miss out on critiquing Amy Adams here. I felt that she also did very well. I am continually surprised by her a bit as she can play different roles very well (Besides that bump in the road for her crappy acting in Leap Year). She didn't do amazing like the guys did, but still worth noting in my book.
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