This Could Be My Ticket Back To The Top

The Wrestler
2008, dir. Darren Aronofsky
starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

I saw one review for The Wrestler that said, "Witness the resurrection of Mickey Rourke," and I don't think anyone could have put it any better. After years of small roles and b-movies with cookie cutter performances, Rourke has again showed the kind of acting skill he routinely displayed twenty years ago. In the film, Rourke plays the eponymous character named Randy The Ram Robinson, a wrestler once at the top of the game in the 1980s, but who has, with age, fallen to wrestling in community centres and high school gymnasiums for a couple hundred bucks at a time. His body, and spirit, are broken from the toll pro wrestling takes on a person, almost every person, who has ever been in the industry. After a heart attack, Rourke is told he must quit, and he does try, but he finds he has no other place in this world than in the ring, and is drawn back in for a rematch of a classic main event battle he had in the 80s.

Supporting Rourke are Marisa Tomei as a stripper that Randy is friendly with, and Wood and Randy's estranged daughter. Tomei's character Cassidy, like Randy, is also a performer in an industry that does not bode well for the aging, and who also finds that she must move on, but proves to have a bit more strength to do so, probably because she has some family left, whereas Rourke really doesn't. Wood, as Randy's daughter Stephanie, has all but given up on him, basically because he all but gave up on her when she was growing up. Randy tries to reconnect with Stephanie after his heart attack, but finds that his problems still prevent him from fully taking responsibility for his relationship with his daughter.

The Wrestler is only the fourth film from Darren Aronofsky, and although it may not seem to have anything in common with Pi, Requiem For A Dream, and The Fountain, at the heart of it, all are about the failings of the body holding back the strength of the mind. Rourke, like the protagonists of those other films, has desires of greatness, but is held back by his weaknesses and the passages of time, which are inescapable for us all. Rourke is any many ways a doppelganger for Randy, but hopefully this performance will allow him to escape those trappings.

5 stars out of 5

Seen Friday night at the Bytowne with Steph, Paddy, and Gary. Had some popcorn and a diet Pepsi.