As I was watching this movie I couldn’t help but remember the prophetic line in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s final movie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Faced with a newer sleeker computer generated special effect driven terminator Arnold flatly admits that he is no match for the newer design. “I am obsolete,” he mechanically intones. How true I thought. Just this year several great films have sounded the death knell in the age of the Schwarzenggerian model of the American action hero. The movement reached its height in the eighties with such stars as Ahnold, Sly Stallone, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Steven Segal. But as special effects have taken over the modern day action blockbuster, these great hulking muscle men have been supplanted with newer sleeker models. Twenty years ago the ‘Incredible Hulk’ was a role for the muscle man Luc Ferrigno. Today, aided with computers, that role has been taken over by an actual bona fide actor, Ed Norton. The ascendance of such relatively diminutive actors like Tobey Maguire (Spiderman), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), and Shia Lebouf (Transformers) has made apparent that real acting skill is now more important than steroid-toking ability. Even in the Terminator franchise, Arnold has officially been replaced. In his stead is Christian Bale (Batman) who may have a great physique but is certainly more impressive because of his acting chops.
The Wrestler is a noble swan song for the eighties muscle man. It would make a great double feature with the fine documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster* which takes on practically the same subject. It was in the news in December that Mike ‘Mad Dog’ Bell, a has-been wrestler in the documentary, had committed suicide. Knowing this The Wrestler was especially meaningful to watch. The Wrestler is about a wrestler named Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson (played beautifully by Mickey Rourke) who had his hey-day in the late eighties. Since then he has fallen on hard times. He now performs in smaller venues like community centers. At his age, wrestling has a very noticeable effect on his body. He walks with so much pain. Wrestling may be fake in the sense that the outcome is determined beforehand, but what this movie really makes apparent is that people are really getting hit in the ring, they really do fall from high places, and when they bleed they really are bleeding. Wrestling, in that sense is very real. So real, in fact, that when Randy suffers a heart attack after an especially brutal bout, it seems like the appropriate reaction to what he has just been through. The Wrestler does for muscle men what Sunset Boulevard did for silent film stars. It is an empathetic story of a person stuck in thier own obsolescence. Even if Randy’s health didn’t fail, he still would have no chance for a comeback. The era is over and he is left behind. What makes the movie a tragedy is that Randy has severed any personal ties he has had with his family and thus has nothing to fall back on now. His only relationship is with a stripper (Marisa Tomei) who maybe is only being nice to him because he’s a customer. His daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) hates him. The movie is comprised of attempted reconciliations and mistakes. But it seems Randy can’t live without wrestling, something the doctor has told him to avoid.
This is called Mickey Rourke’s comeback movie. That’s ironic to say after his character’s failure to comeback in the movie itself. Still it is a great performance, which should put him in contending for the Best Actor Oscar. Marisa Tomei also is worthy of her nomination. It is my personal opinion that she looks better right now than she did almost fifteen years ago when she first won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny. My god is she smoking. It’s ridiculous to be in such great shape at her age. Evan Rachel Wood also does good work. The entire movie is wall-to-wall good performances.
The director for this movie is, quite surprisingly, none other than Darren Aronofsky. Seeing any of his other films you would never have guessed. All the trademark Aronofsky camera moves and edits are gone. What is present is a completely different style. He has completely reinvented himself. Consider for a moment that his last movie was The Fountain. Wow, this is definitely the opposite of that movie in every way. As always I’m very interested in what the guy is doing next.
One last thing: Bruce Springsteen’s soulful ballad at the end of the film should have been at least nominated for an Oscar. The fact that it isn’t is a true disappointment. If I were NBC I would be so pissed off at the Academy this year. The fact that neither Wall-e nor The Dark Knight was nominated for Best Picture probably cost them 30 million viewers already. To have the chance for Bruce Springsteen to perform at the ceremony and not have him nominated probably cost them another 10 million. What could have been a record setting viewer ship has all but disappeared. Instead we have The Reader and a couple of unknown Indian songs from ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ which frankly I didn’t think were impressive enough to remember. At least Robert Downey Jr. was recognized for Tropic Thunder.
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