The Fighter Review

Lowell does more work here than the fighting does. David O. Russell fills the frame with the Ward sisters lined up on a porch, the cramped kitchen arguments, the phone ringing all day with bad advice, until the family reads as a more frightening obstacle than any opponent. Christian Bale's Dicky Eklund is jitter and charm running on nothing, a man narrating his own past to anyone who will stand still, and the moment he watches the documentary about himself in a prison rec room lands without one line of explanation.

Melissa Leo makes Alice's love and her vanity the same impulse. Amy Adams is tougher than the part strictly required. Mark Wahlberg has the hardest job, holding the centre quietly while everybody around him performs, and he holds it. Hoyte van Hoytema shot the fights on the broadcast video gear HBO used at the time, so they look like something half remembered from a Saturday night, a smart idea whose side effect is that the boxing feels small next to the living room. The closing bout then follows the underdog template beat for beat after two acts that had escaped it entirely.