“I'm the one who's fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.”

Shauna and I spent the weekend up in ‘The Park’ with some great friends (shout out to Steve, Sue, Brian, Chrissy, Meghan, Ian, Abby, Zach, Allie and Sydney), hanging out, eating giant, awesome meals, playing with the kids and generally being silly. It was a wonderful visit and I’m pleased to say that Shauna now holds the Gold Medal for best charade. Ever. Please, please, please ask her to show it to you sometime. If she doesn’t agree, I’m happy to reveal that there is video proof.

At any rate, once we got home we both immediately realized that we were in severe movie withdrawal. Ok maybe I was the one in withdrawal but Shauna has always been my biggest enabler, so we both agreed to watch something together.

We decided on ‘The Fighter’ for no other reason than it was on the top of the pile of Blu-rays that I’ve borrowed from a co-worker. He’s loaned me about 20 movies at the moment. I have this strange need to watch them all before I start catching up on the movies in my own collection that I still need to watch. It’s the only part of my movie obsession that sometimes feels like a chore. I seriously have issues. But today’s blog isn’t about my issues.

It’s about Christian Bale’s.

Or rather, it’s about Dicky Eklund’s issues, the real-life character portrayed by Bale in the critically acclaimed ‘The Fighter’.


For those of you who don’t follow Oscar buzz and don’t get obsessed with Best Picture nominations or Best Actor awards, or have been living in the Arctic Circle for the past year, The Fighter is the true story of two brothers, their relationship with each other and their own personal struggles with family, crack and boxing. Not necessarily in that order. Mark Wahlberg plays Micky Ward, half brother to Dick Eklund (Bale), a once renowned boxer who went toe-to-toe with Sugar Ray Leonard and came out on top. At least, temporarily. Micky is now training to take his own shot at a boxing career, under Dickey’s tutelage (don’t let the names turn you off). I don’t want to spoil any part of the movie for you, but I don’t think it’s any surprise that Dickey’s crack addiction doesn’t help things.

Christian Bale is a genius. This is an actor who does his homework and completely embodies the role he’s been given, both physically and emotionally. The Fighter is another link in an already impressive chain of physically demanding films for Bale. Just take note of his body weight changes through The Machinist (121 lbs.), Batman Begins (190 lbs.), Rescue Dawn (135 lbs.), The Dark Knight (back up to 195lbs.) and The Fighter (down again to approximately 150 lbs.). And since The Dark Knight Returns is currently in pre-production it’s safe to assume that Bale is already putting the muscle back on.


Weight loss aside, Bale still delivers an incredible performance, one more than worthy of the Academy Award he earned earlier this year. His speech, mannerisms and facial ticks are a sobering and accurate depiction of the effects of crack cocaine. And yet Bale also manages to convincingly display the skill and knowledge of a former, professional, Welterweight boxer. From each nervous laugh to every paranoid flinch, Bale is Dick Eklund, head to toe.

Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo also deliver note-worthy performances, but quite honestly, they pale in comparison to Christian Bale’s incredible display of acting ability. I was surprised to learn that his Oscar was in the Supporting Actor category. He deserves a Leading Role nod for this performance and although I’m glad he won, I still think he was robbed. Just compare Bruce Wayne to Dick Eklund. It’s mind-boggling that these two roles were even possible for a single actor to nail so perfectly.


Putting my apparent man-crush on Christian Bale aside, The Fighter is still a fantastic film. The boxing scenes are realistic and captivating. The characters are believable and easy to invest in (which one would hope given that they’re all based on real people and in at least one case performed by the actual person). This movie is worth your time. It will find a permanent place in my collection. Assuming I can find a place for my collection. I have officially run out of shelf space. Time for a new house I guess.