The Wrestler (2008)

[noodles_leone]

Time to use the word "spoiler"?

[moviesceleton]

I personally felt it was pretty obvious he died, and not necessary to show just exactly what happened.

Yeah, that's what I thought too but it was still kinda disappointing.

[PowerRR]

Time to use the word "spoiler"?

SPOILER!

[The Firecracker]

Snuck into this after seeing Taken.
Not bad but nothing out of this world either.
By the time Rourke starts having a relationship with his daughter I started checking my watch because the movie was waltzing into cliche.

For a guy who doesn't like wrestling the early matches were very exciting, looks like Rourke and the other actors were really hurting each other.

I had a problem with Ram's living status. Here's a guy who used to be a big celeb (the dude had action figures and video games made after him) and he's livin' in a trailer park?
Was all of that money wasted on blow?

This is the director's most accessible film to date.

7/10

[Tuco the ugly]

I like the movie, I think it's very good. Mostly because of Rourke's performance than anything else. Watched it a few times so far and it did fade away a little, but it's still sincere and exempt from the pathetic that is a standard to these ''old washed-out athlete that doesn't have a life, let alone a family'' semi-biopics. I won't deny that it is full of clichés (attempted relationship with Pam ''the whore with the heart of gold'', he doesn't talk to his adolescent (?) daughter, lives in some shit-hole, struggling with the real life, when he's not wrestling he works on whatever job he can find, etc.). However, the other aspects of his 'life' are depicted far better (realistic?). First of all he's a really nice guy, apart from being a fuckup he seems to know how to behave when around normal people, and his collegues seem to respect him, and that was really strange and unusual, in the end even Ayatollah turns out to be a nice fella with no animosity towards him. Then, we were spared for the part when he's trying to get his life together, that always runs as an integrated segment of this kind of movies. He didn't even bother much with his daughter, like he knew there's nothing more to do, I don't say he didn't hope something can come out of it but I felt like he was really just letting it go, getting an excuse to go fight the last match of his life. Like, she'll tell him he's a no-good piece of shit, so he can pity himself a little, forget about the health issues, and go where he actually represents something to someone (whatever that is, maybe just entertainment, but still something). In the end looked like he wasn't even sorry for how he spent his life, that there's very little you can blame him for. The problem with drugs and everything else, as he takes it,  seem more like a part of the job than something bad. If he got asbestosis in some mine, everybody would say he was a hero during his life, or something like that, but, since he was just a stupid wrestler who willingly destroyed himself, then who gives a flying fuck about him.

The most emotional moment is just before the last match, when the song SCOM starts. It is the equivalent of the final three-way shootout in GBU: The Ram, Mickey Rourke and the GNR, dancing in Bob's Country Bunker long after the lights went off. The movie could have ended even without his last match, just after he salutes the crowd, maybe it would have been even better. I tell you, they almost got a tear out of me.

[Tuco the ugly]

I had a problem with Ram's living status. Here's a guy who used to be a big celeb (the dude had action figures and video games made after him) and he's livin' in a trailer park?
Was all of that money wasted on blow?

Yeah, that was a bit blur.

[The Firecracker]

he's a really nice guy, apart from being a fuckup he seems to know how to behave when around normal people, and his collegues seem to respect him, and that was really strange and unusual, 

I think his days of being an asshole are long gone by the time we meet him.

[Dust Devil]

That's some queer pussy ass shit, lemme tell ya.

[T.H.]

I had a problem with Ram's living status. Here's a guy who used to be a big celeb (the dude had action figures and video games made after him) and he's livin' in a trailer park?

Exactly. He would be making bigger money. It would be comparable to Randy Savage living in a trailer park.

Quick thoughts.

Tomei and Rourke's performances are the only positives.

This story has been done a million times and much better. Fat City, for one.

The first half hour is arguably pointless, it shouldn't take that long to communicate to the audience that he's a bum.

The handling of all things wrestling were poor and not too well researched. A scene of selling drugs in a locker room in this day age? Gimme a break.

There are WAY too many wrestling scenes in this movie. Boogie Nights is 2.5 hours and has exactly ONE scene which portrays the main character on his job. This has like 9 matches, which really weren't impressive.

Too much wannabee Cassavetes steadicam, it was distracting.

It really irked me when Aronofsky chose to pipe in chants and cheering noises during the tracking shot of Rourke walking through the grocery store, as if the audience isn't intelligent enough to make that connection. Moments like this really kept me from fully enjoying this one.

I give it a "C".

[noodles_leone]

The Wrestler (2008) 7.5/10

Yeah, good movie but apart from one wrestling scene, what's haven't we already seen over 1.000 times in other movies? I agree with your rating.
South Park episode on wrestling was pretty funny too.

[noodles_leone]

So this movie was on TV lately and I noticed I had absolutely no intention of re-watching it. It was also on Netflix some time ago (maybe still is). It didn't stand the test of time for me. I also noticed that nobody around me has mentioned the movie for years. Even when Noah was released it got very little talk. So I was wondering: are there still people who love this movie or everybody kind of agree with a "I completely forgot about this" 6-7/10?

[dave jenkins]

everybody kind of agree with a "I completely forgot about this" 6-7/10?

I vote "aye."

[PowerRR]

So this movie was on TV lately and I noticed I had absolutely no intention of re-watching it. It was also on Netflix some time ago (maybe still is). It didn't stand the test of time for me. I also noticed that nobody around me has mentioned the movie for years. Even when Noah was released it got very little talk. So I was wondering: are there still people who love this movie or everybody kind of agree with a "I completely forgot about this" 6-7/10?

I still think it's an excellent masterpiece and Aronofsky's best film by a looong shot. Actually put the DVD in the other day but got distracted by friends and alcohol. Noah got very little talk because it sucked cock.

[Dust Devil]

Yeah I still like it, wouldn't count it as a masterpiece though.