The Wrestler Blu Ray
May 9, 2009
It’s easy to see why The Wrestler has won so much acclaim from the critics. This is type of movie that will not find wide variety of audiences or be labeled as a crowd pleaser. Darren Aronofsky has largely produced movies that are well received by critics but often baffle and puzzle the audiences. The much anticipated movie The Fountain left a lot of people scratching their head. The Fountain, while excellent in my opinion, mixed a lot of drama and science fiction with very deliberate sequences mixed in. In contrast, The Wrestler is a character piece centered on Mickey Rourke’s character.
The story is about a washed up wrestler named Randy “the Ram” Robinson. In his heydays, he was one of the biggest draw for the professional wrestling. Imagine the WWE and Hulk Hogan. Randy is washed up and supports himself by wrestling in small venues. Rather than doing it for the money, Randy truly loves to wrestle at any cost. He has forsaken his family and friends to pursue his passion for the wrestling. One day after a wrestling event, he collapses from heart attack. Realizing his frailty, he reaches out this his daughter Stephanie, played by Evan Rachel Wood. The question is whether he can rekindle his relationship with his daughter and maintain his passion for the wrestling.
There are no suspense or plot twists. Instead, the story is entirely focused on Randy and his passion for wrestling. If you are not into character driven movies, you will quickly find this movie boring. Aronofsky does great job portraying the ins and outs of the wrestling. Besides Rourke and Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei fills in nicely as the love interest for Randy. She plays the stripper named Cassidy. There’s really nothing much to say about her character. She plays the stripper with heart. Little cliché but she is always excellent in any role she plays. This movie will not appeal to wide audiences. However, you should at least give it a shot as it is an excellent movie.
What do you think about this movie? Please leave your thoughts below.
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The Wrestler [Blu-ray] List Price: Sale Price: $13.49 You save: $26.50 (66%) Average Rating: 
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It is the cliched tale of the mighty warrior falling from glory.
The Wrestler is the type of film that makes movies the special part of life that they are. The ability of an actor, script, music and cinematography to pull at our emotional strings and force us to feel remorse or happiness for a fictional character is amazing. It is amazing but unfortunately a rarity in the hundreds of movies pumped out every year, but once in awhile you stumble on a gem, and that gem renews your faith not only in the industry but in the art of story telling.
It is the cliched tale of the mighty warrior falling from glory. The gladiator who has grown old and tired, too damaged to please the adoring crowd and too alien to the normality of life to do anything else. It is the story we are shown quite often but rarily do we get the reality of such a situation. It makes you wonder why boxers way past their primes come back to the ring and NFL players who are past effectiveness refusing to retire. It is something foreign to the everyday man who has not endured the bumps and bruises of a life of pain in entertainment to please the adoring crowd. The Wrestler is such a tale, allowing us for a few moments to see the candid truths of a professional wrestler in the twilight years of his career.
Having known some wrestlers in my time period, I already knew this tale. Well documented by scenes in documentaries such as Beyond The Mat, I know that an older wrestler is normally broke, heavily reliant on drugs and damn near suicidal. With the exception of Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, you will be hard pressed to find retired wrestlers who are living comfortably through the fruits of their labor. The Wrestler allows us to be a fly on the wall in the life of one of the unlucky old-timers.
Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a professional wrestler with a long career of success behind him. With the old aches and age finally dragging him down, Randy is unable to keep up with life outside the ring and spends nights sleeping in his van. His hopes of returning to stardom leads him to doing small independent shows for little to no money until he is hit with a severe health issue. In a vain attempt to retire and live normal life, Randy pursues a relationship with Cassidy/Pam (Marisa Tomei) a dancer at the Strip Club he frequents and his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan rachel Wood). Unfortunately regular life and Randy do not mix well and he is forced to fall back on the only people who have always been there for him… the crowd.
The Wrestler in essence is a tragedy, being that it is so absolutely real it feels more documentary than motion picture. Mickey Rourke is perfect and so believable that had he not been a famous actor it would be hard pressed for you to convince me that “The Ram” wasn’t a real person. Not only is Marisa Tomei absolutely beautiful in this film but she brings a real humanity to Cassidy that ran parallels to some of the working girls I know in life. The movie was powerfully realistic and relevant and I think it will bring some much needed attention to the entertainment/sport of pro wrestling. To top it off the score is so melancholy and appropriate that it plays with your emotions as much as the action on screen.
This is not a rental folks, this is a purchase and treasured film for your collection. I am very glad to have seen it and with the low budget used to film it… shows that a tough story and an actor that can pull it off is all that is needed for cinema gold.
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Great Film!
I hesitate to mention that I am a long time wrestling fan simply because of the image that statement can conjure up in peoples minds. Yes, I have all of my teeth, no I do not sport a mullet. Wrestling fans are often derided for their choice of entertainment, and at times when watching some of the god-awful programming WWE has been putting on the air over the years, I sometimes ask myself why do I tune in to watch two men fake fighting? I truly cannot answer that question.
When I first heard about “The Wrestler” coming out I figured it was going to be a throw-away comedy. Something starring David Spade or Artie Lange that would probably go straight to DVD. As I began hearing more and more about the film, I was intrigued. The film was going to be a straight drama, not an excuse to poke fun at wrestlers or their fans?
The film is simply fantastic. “The Wrestler” doesn’t really delve into the “why” of wrestling, but the “who”. This is a character driven film about two broken people who are searching for “something”. Mickey Rourke as Randy “The Ram” does a phenomenal job, and it’s easy to see why he was nominated for Best Actor at the last Academy Awards. His lonely character grabs you in a similar way to Stallone’s initial portrayal of Rocky Balboa does. You like Randy, and want to see him succeed. You cringe at the choices he has made, and the choices he continues to make, yet you always root for him to come out on top.
Even if you hate wrestling, you will love this movie. Having you chuckling one moment, and with a lump in your throat the next, “The Wrestler” is a film you won’t forget for quite awhile.
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Best movie of 2008
Mickey Rourke delivers the best performance of his career. An emotional story so great and moving you will feel like you’ve known randy “the ram” all your life. When he feels pain you feel it with him. Easily 10/10 and possibly the best film of the decade.
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A stirring, emotional piece…
A great movie that harks back to 1970’s independent film-making. An incredible performance by Mickey Rourke and he is supported by a great cast. I can’t praise this film enough. If only Hollywood were intelligent enough to realize that the public needs more movies like this….
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Powerful and moving
A touching portrayal of a used-up hunk of meat trying to get back on his feet.
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So so…
Normally the type of story told in this movie would be more emotionally gripping and powerful, but it all revolves around a washed up pro-wrestler who is so flawed that having all but accomplished a great set of changes in his life, he can’t help but self-destruct in a series of acts which culminate in his metaphorical and literal leap back into the ring, which will surely kill him.
This circuitous non-transformation doesn’t expose any great truth, no grand moral, nor do we witness a martyr forced to resign to his fate for any purpose great or small. We see a borderline washed-up nobody who demonstrates potential to better himself, but ultimately ends up willfully destroying himself for no purpose or plausible reason.
As a result it is very difficult to get invested in the story, the character, the circumstances, or the world it all took place in. There is allegory of men generally, of wider society, or the general human condition in this film. Even as a flick simply about failed self-correction it leaves much to be desired.
That said, the technical execution of this movie was solid. Good directing and acting. Just poor material on which to base a movie.
If you have a strong interest in pro-wrestling or regional wrestling circuits, or have an over the top taste for flawed-man-proves-just-how-flawed-he-is story lines, this movie may suit you. For the rest: Pass on it. At most rent it.
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A great little movie
Mikey Rourke gets into his character and never gets out. You can almost smell the sweat in the room….really enjoyable movie, especially if you are a Rourke fan (which I am.)
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Rourke- yes
Movie- eh. Don’t let your kids grow up to be wrestlers. Mickey is masterful but the movie drags. Except for the deli, which has a huge cringe factor.
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Fantastic All around
As a “manly man” this is one of the few films that makes the eyes water. This is one of those films that if you don’t tear up, you’re simply not human. This is up there with “Rudy” or “Crash” (where you think the little girl got shot) that evokes the deepest emotions fundamental to the human struggle.
Simply said, this film is great in all of it’s aspects. Aronofsky brings his directing style to this great story and uses his typical quick, contrasting cuts. He juxtaposes contrasting scenes jolting the watcher into not only seeing the differences, but also the similarities and the ongoing themes that run strong throughout the movie.
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shallow, garish, monotonous, and ultimately pathetic
This film depicts Lowlife USA at its worst: coarse humor, gratuitous violence, tawdry sex, hard drinking and drugs. It unfolds in a mind-(and soul-)numbing succession of raw scenes, lacking depth and emotional force. Mickey Rourke has too much in common with Randy the “Ram” to achieve dramatic transcendence. He comes across as coarse and pathetic; his melodramatic performance, filled with self-pity, made me cringe, especially as the film wore on. I wanted to like this movie but it just bored and sickened me, leading nowhere but deeper into its own vacuous hell.
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