Another film based on a true story.
Lowell, Mass. based half-brother boxers Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) are at the center of this poignant family drama, which also happens to have some pretty decent boxing scenes wrapped around its dramatic core.
Stellar acting across the board including Melissa Leo as their mom and Amy Adams as Mickey Ward's girlfriend.
Christian Bale showed me quite clearly in this film that he is a much, much better character actor than a lead performer. This acting performance should win him an Oscar.
This may also be Melissa Leo's turn to win an Oscar of her own as many believe that she was grossly overlooked a few years ago for her performance in Frozen River.
Eklund had his shot at the big time (he once knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard) and then quickly fell into a life of drugs and despair. He continued to train other boxers including his half-brother Mickey and it was only through sheer willpower that Mickey was able to march through the quicksand that was his family life and rise to become champion himself. But he did it, ultimately, with Dicky at his side...
A powerful story about family and a man's struggle to make something of himself...
Highly recommended.
