The Wrestler; A Hardcore Review

I have seen this movie four times now in this new year. This is the first time I watched it legally. That should tell you all something. That I would get a bootleg, watch it three times and then go and get the movie when it's released on BluRay.
For the uninitiated, wrestling is a dance of sorts. And this movie chronicles a short period of time in the life of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a wrestler who is past his glory days. Ram, as I will sometimes refer to him during this review, is played by Mickey Rourke, who as perhaps destiny would have it is a past his prime actor, whom many critics have said has revitalized his career with this flick. Ram is broken down, physically and mentally by the business and life. As many wrestlers will attest, being on the road as much as wrestlers are, he has become estranged from his daughter. This was probably the most realistic depiction of the life of a professional wrestler EVER! The road and the wrestling life does weird things to otherwise normal and honest people. Drugs, cheating on spouses. Drinking and driving. The famous time when Triple H met Ric Flair for the first time, in the buff with a balloon attatched to "Space Mountain." Fucked up shit happens on the road. There's not a lot to do when you live out of a suitcase and the cheapest motel you can find is your home 300+ days a year. It's a tough life. And when people say, "well making a hundred grand a year is worth it." Try staying away from your loved ones, your home and yourself in all actuality for over 300 days a year and see if the money is worth it. Not the least to add to that is also the fact that you wrestle five days a week, twice on Sunday and you get no time to recover from the injuries that pile up on you. And after you see this movie and learn a little about the world of pro wrestling, you will know that it is probably the least fake industry in the world. These are real men and women whose lives get torn assunder because they do what they love.
This film is gritty and quasi documentary-like in cinematic scope. Shot with a "live" feel to it, where you feel like someone who is in on the action, you become privy to all the once secret brotherhood of pro wrestling.
Ram's only interpersonal relationship is with over the hill stripper, Cassidey, played extremely well by Marisa Tomei. Cassidey is Ram's confidant. She knows more about him than his own daughter. And when he decides to mend broken fences he finds out just how much of that bridge he burned.
This is the story of a man, who never learned to follow what should have been important in life and instead persued unhealthy relationships, prolonged a career that he was not willing to let go of twenty years ago when he was on top.
This analogy came a week ago when Michael Jordan was voted into the Hall of Fame. It is from ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning. Jordan was the best in his field for 14 years. Basically the entirety of his career. But 14 years is well short of a lifetime. And for someone who once had the adulation of millions, and was revered by little boys and girls on every playground basketball blacktop in the world, it is very hard to stop and become a normal person. It's the reason soldiers have terrible times acclimating to mainstream society after seeing the worst toils of war. Someone like myself can be an artist and a writer until the day I drop dead. Even if I were to ever be thought of as the best, I can still do what I do for as long as I choose to. It is harsh to think of the devastation this wroughts on men, who in their fifties are still vital, physically and mentally and just not viable commodities in the field they chose.
This industry is brought to the forefront of the public eye. Wrestlers are not offered health insurance. They are a select few without pensions, or retirement options. These are men and women who give of themselves for the love of those who come to see them. This is something Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter need to look at and realize that withouth these men and women killing themselves night in and night out are left bankrupt, homeless, without families and without futures in broken down shambles of human bodies. This industry needs to change. And you the fans, and people who believe everyone in this country deserves that chance to have a future can help make that possible. Voice your opinions. Make the change happen. Vince can afford to give his employees health insurance. Right now all wrestlers are "independant contractors" and that means Vince and Dixie can make all the profit off their backs they want, and not pay into the system.
For everything this movie has done in being a great film and bringing awareness to the public, the honor I bestow upon it is not another hardcore moment in wrestling history, but a spot in my Top Five favorite movies of all time. I was asked why I did not have a typical grade for this film. I thought that placing it in my top five favorite movies was enough, but here goes. The grade I give this dates back to 1996 when a new feud was begining. A broken ring and a one hour time delay could not keep these two combatants from tearing the house down. Rob Van Dam and Sabu put up a four star match which included the ring ropes breaking during the match, the two wrestling around the arena and then pulling off a great finish. Triple Jump Moonsaults, Super Arabian Facebusters, all with a broken set of ring ropes. It may be known as the broken ring match, but many remember this as the match that started the war between two men who flew higher and performed crazier acrobatic stunts than the next five fliers in total. RVD v. Sabu was one of the most entertaining feuds from ECW, as they teamed up while they still hated each other to capture the Tag Team Belts, and then battled over the ECW World Television Title all while being cheered on by fence sitter Bill Alphonso, who finally joined with RVD after Sabu was released from his contract in 2000.

Top 5 Movies list

Following is a list of my top five favorite movies. Compiling this list is tough for me because there are so many movies I love for so many different reasons. The picks on my list might surprise some, who would take one look at me and pass judgment that I could not enjoy a movie with subtitles or subtext. I find it kind of hilarious that just based on my outward appearance and minimal conversation could help justify these individual's opinions. Especially seeing as they pride themselves on being so knowledgeable about so many different things. One being that they are working on the greatest movie to ever be made. Seeing as how they have been "working" on this project for over a decade, and they seem to think they have expertise on the subject simply because they took courses on film and film making in college, befuddles me. I don't claim to be an expert in animation and I got a degree in that, not just took classes involving it. I decided to do this as a sort of challenge taken from someone, due to my distaste for the IMDB Top 250. Which to me seemed to be more a popularity contest than a listing of the actual top 250 movies in terms of quality. I refuse to apologize for believing that nothing Quentin Tarantino directs should ever be placed on anyone's top anything list other than "Top Overrated Pieces of Shit"

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: This 1974 "semi true" movie directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Hooper and Kim Henkel is best viewed on regular dvd, and not bluray. Simply because the bluray makes the picture too clear. And part of the charm and macabre of its appeal is that it's grainy and harsh. This predates Freddy and Jason and even Michael Myers in terms of creating the ultimate believable "heavy" in a horror movie. Leatherface is a guy who can and does feel physical pain and is left with just enough life detail to compel one into feeling some empathy for him, while simultaneously rooting for him to kill the gaggle of hippie scum that have invaded his territory. Cinematographer Daniel Pearl worked with 16mm film and with it weaved an dirty and gritty film closely likened to a snuff film in its frightening realism. My love affair with this film began in 1998 when I first owned it on VHS. I have owned five separate copies of this film, two on tape, two on DVD and one on BluRay. The BluRay adds greatly to the sound and makes the 16mm film super high def. However, I prefer it to be grainy and sometimes hard to see, due to the nature of the story itself. Incidentally Tobe Hooper also scored the movie as well. TCM has spawned a legion of cult fans, three sequels and a revamp with a prequel that adds to the mythos and origin of the greatest slasher who ever lived, Leatherface. This movie has also inspired me to create and do the illustration for my tribute piece Fuzzyface: The Agnew Chainsaw Massacre, which is written by my partner Venus of Necro. The film has also been immortalized on my flesh as I have dedicated skin space to two Texas Chainsaw Massacre tattoos.

2. Amelie: This is possibly the most amazingly filed and written movie I have ever seen. It draws my praise and is as close to perfect as cinema can ever hope to come. There is nothing wrong with this film. All the characterization is perfect. The visuals are stylish and very intriguing. You can watch the movie without reading the subtitles and you will still be amazed at this stupendously written movie. Audrey Tautou is the most likable protagonist in the history of celluloid. She lights up absolutely every scene she is in. The entirety of this film is fun and beautiful. Bruno Delbonnel frames each shot with such clarity and color, that you cannot help but be amazed. This is visually one of the most stunning films I have ever seen, that did not have obvious special effects or CGI involved. This is the purest movie I have ever had the pleasure seeing.

3. Pan's Labyrinth: This stunning visual movie is spawned from the mind of Guillermo del Toro, the man behind the Hellboy films. Del Toro has done so many movies of superb quality, it is hard to pick a favorite. However, Pan's Labyrinth, with it's depth, and relation to fairy tales more in the vein of The Brothers Grimm than Disney is the reason I like it. The visuals in this classic are due to the amazing eye of Guillermo Navarro. Movies like Pan's Labyrinth may fall under the radar to the lowest common denominator, but its depth and passion are not lost on me. I first viewed this film at the behest of a girlfriend. And I am very glad she compelled me to watch it. And while watching this amazing story you are drawn in and you feel as if you are the only one watching, as if it is a story book and you are a child with the covers pulled up over your head, living it with the aide of a flashlight. Del Toro may be more famous and made his proverbial living by doing big budget flicks like Hellboy and Hellboy the Golden Army, and Blade 2, but his passion for his work is obvious in these very personal moments captured on film.

4. Leon: Luc Besson writes and directs this masterpiece of film making about a very simple hitman and the strange relationship he forms with a young girl. Jean Reno stars as Leon, the hitman who has standards. The only rule he lives by "no women, no kids." Reno was born to play Leon. He makes you care for this very sympathetic character. Even though he kills people for a living, you believe because Reno puts passion into Leon. You truly know that all the people who he "hits" are very bad people. Leon unwittingly is the target of the affections of his next door neighbor,
Matilda, played beautifully and above her years in Natalie Portman. This was Portman's first film, and she made you believe she was Matilda, a naive yet wise beyond her years girl. Thierry Abrogast is the Director of Photography, and he shot a beautiful film. From the opening flight over New York into the Macaroni Company, to the final moments of Leon's life, you are drawn into this film. So much so that you can smell the gun powder. The movie has recently been offered on BluRay, and it is truly worthy of high definition. This movie, as do my number 2 and 3 are on the IMDB 250, which is not a surprise given their amazing quality, but it is amazing considering a majority of the tripe that ended up on that list. Rumors have swirled since it hit theatres that Leon would spawn a sequel which would focus on Portman's character, Matilda as a grownup, who takes upon the career of a cleaner.

5. The Wrestler: Darren Aronofsky, director of such dark and disturbing films like Pi and Requiem for a Dream directs the story about a past his prime pro wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson who is played by Mickey Rourke. The film is shot by Maryse Alberti, one of the few female DOP's in the business. The first thing I noticed about this film visually is that it seems to be shot in three different ways. The first being more of a "live" documentary type feel. The second being traditonal cinema in scope. The third, which you may or may not expect is that it is shot differently during the actual wrestling portions of the movie. More in the vein of smaller and intimate old school Extreme Championship Wrestling and less in terms of the high budgeted and multibillion dollar funded WWE events. Rourke's career mirrors that of the protagonist. He's a broken down man, who's best years, money and glory are all behind him. Rourke conveys the life of a downtrodden former star in such a compelling way, that you are lead to believe that this movie is not only how a lot of 1980's wrestling main eventers now live, but anyone who once held the spotlight and is no longer marketable to multibillion dollar companies. Marisa Tomei plays an aging stripper, who rebuffs the romantic advances of Randy, compares his life to that of Christ in "Passion of the Christ." Randy is estranged from his daughter who is played Evan Rachel Wood. The story mirrors the telling of Jake "The Snake" Roberts' life in "Beyond the Mat," the 1999 documentary which followed the lives of three career wrestlers. Roberts' relationship with his daughter was well documented and hard to watch. In "The Wrestler" you feel for Woods' character because you know and witness Robinson's inability to let go of any spotlight he may have left to become just Randy Robinson, father. This is a story that is relates to anyone who has held fame or success, and refuses to let go.