Nothin’ Like A Good Ol’ A$$ Whoopin’ at iconogeek

The Ram

I know I haven’t posted much in quite a while. Call it what you will, but I just saw The Wrestler and was inclined to give you my highly critical opinion.

For starters, I loved it. From the opening credits with the panning wrestling Promo’s from the 80′s and even the Ram-green font, to the final image of Mickey Rourke (more on him in a moment) giving his fans what they wanted, I was hooked. Darren Arronofsky’s use of a documentary-style single camera shooting made this movie feel very authentic.

As an avid wrestling fan in my younger days, which I’ve since let fall by the wayside, Mickey Rourke sold me 100% on his performance from his first elbow drop, to the final RamJam. Not only did he deserve the Golden Globe for Best Male Actor, as well as his forth coming Oscar win…this was one of my top 10 performances in a while. I don’t know whether it was the 80′s vibe he exuded, the low IQ he was portraying as a lovable fuckup with many apparent prior transgressions, or just his overall “badassness” but Mickey Rourke has some chops. I can’t say I’m well versed in his Filmography (besides SinCity of course) but I’ll surely be adding some of his flicks to my Netflix queue.

Marisa Tomei was phenomenal as the odd relationship between the two characters unfolds throughout the films 115 min run time.

That said, even if you weren’t a fan of the Hulk Hogan’s and Iron Sheik’s of the 80′s, you will dig this movie based on the incredible character development and Rourke’s painful attempts to reconnect with his daughter (a very solid Evan Rachel Wood). It seems as though this year’s Oscar season is full of very strong candidates…while I haven’t seen a majority of the noms yet, I can’t imagine many of them containing a better lead performance than this one. Check it out.

*Note – Bruce Springsteen’s song written and titled for this movie did not go unnoticed…I loved it