| The Wrestler [Blu-ray] |  | Actor: Mickey Rourke
Studio: Fox Searchlight
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  1 reviews
Language: English (Unknown)
Media: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Number Of Discs: 1
ASIN: B001GCUNVC
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| Customer Reviews:
They Had Jake The Snake In Mind When Writing This January 2, 2009
Steven Stewart (steveo.stewart@hotmail.co.uk)
For those of you who have seen the classic wrestling documentary "Beyond The Mat" in which it feature Jake "The Snake" Roberts heavily, the title of my review will speak volumes. To those who have already seen this spectacular film, you will recognise the parallels between "The Wrestlers" main character and Jake. Mickey Rourke can also be compared to the character in regards to his personal life as he tends to get himself into trouble a lot of times with the law and in his relationships.
The Plot: Randy "The Ram" Robinson is an aged professional wrestler and personal trainwreck with his finger constantly on the self destruct button. He was once the biggest name in wrestling with his biggest match taking place in Madison Square Garden against the Ayatollah 20 years prior to this movies setting. You would think that considering his possible legend status that he would be one of the richest men in the business, in fact he seems to be one of the poorest and the most run down.
Living in a trailer park and having stripper being the only person he considers a friend he's pretty much the lowest he can be. Taking part in independent shows to make a quick dollar so he can pay for his drug habit and keep his trailer, he's pushing his body to the absolute limit. One night after taking part in a CZW (Combat Zone Wrestling) event, which is pretty much the hardest of hardcore wrestling he collapses and has a heart attack.
Waking up in a hospital and finding out he is just had a heart triple bypass he is told that he can no longer wrestle for the strain would destroy his heart and kill him. Being a man that lives for wrestling he finds this change hard to cope with especially being so lonely. He first tries to seek companionship with his stripper friend and tries to reconcile his relationship with his daughter.
The Actors: One thing I will say to praise this film above anything else is its authenticity. Being a fan of independent wrestling, I'm more aware of the backstage trials and tribulations of our more failed wrestlers. Being more aware of how the backstage antics work in the real world of wrestling, I expected this to play agaist this film due to me not expecting it to be truly accurate and quite corny in some respects.
I was sorely mistaken and the autenticity of this film is spot on especially with its portrayal of the backstage wrestling world. Mickey Rourke is one of those actors who has a name we all recognise but we're not really sure what he looks like or what movies he's been in. Well that was the case for me anyway, however, this is undoubtedly the film that will put a face to the name and have it stick forever.
The daughter role of Stephanie played by Evan Rachel Wood is another highlight of the film considering her small part played. The real Gem of it is Cassidy the stripper played by Marisa Tomei who is one that gains Randys friendship through simply doing her job. What started off as a professional friendship grows into much more as the film develops and randys life falls apart. Mickey is the shining light of this movie for 2009 and should get an oscar nomination for such a stellar performance. He seems to lay it all out there and in his wrestling scenes seems to take part without holding back an ounce.
Overall the film is superb, being a wrestling fan I especially enjoyed the wrestling scenes which were filmed at actual live WXW, CZW and Ring of Honor events. Mickeys acting seems to exceed all expectations and the film contained some genuinely heart wrenching moments, especially when he first tries to win back his daughter.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it to anyone who is not just a fan of wrestling, but a fan of movies. A fan of drama movies would suffice to be educated by such an immensely enjoyable picture. Be prepared to be a bit shocked and disturbed by some of the graphic depictions within. Either way, upon its nationwide American release or its world wide release, you must make sure you see this film.
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