The Wrestler (2008)

The Wrestler is the type of film that makes movies the special part of life that they are. The ability of an actor, script, music and cinematography to pull at our emotional strings and force us to feel remorse or happiness for a fictional character is amazing. It is amazing but unfortunately a rarity in the hundreds of movies pumped out every year, but once in awhile you stumble on a gem, and that gem renews your faith not only in the industry but in the art of story telling.

It is the cliched tale of the mighty warrior falling from glory. The gladiator who has grown old and tired, too damaged to please the adoring crowd and too alien to the normality of life to do anything else. It is the story we are shown quite often but rarily do we get the reality of such a situation. It makes you wonder why boxers way past their primes come back to the ring and NFL players who are past effectiveness refusing to retire. It is something foreign to the everyday man who has not endured the bumps and bruises of a life of pain in entertainment to please the adoring crowd. The Wrestler is such a tale, allowing us for a few moments to see the candid truths of a professional wrestler in the twilight years of his career.

Having known some wrestlers in my time period, I already knew this tale. Well documented by scenes in documentaries such as Beyond The Mat, I know that an  older wrestler is normally broke, heavily reliant on drugs and damn near suicidal. With the exception of Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, you will be hard pressed to find retired wrestlers who are living comfortably through the fruits of their labor. The Wrestler allows us to be a fly on the wall in the life of one of the unlucky old-timers.

Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a professional wrestler with a long career of success behind him. With the old aches and age finally dragging him down, Randy is unable to keep up with life outside the ring and spends nights sleeping in his van. His hopes of returning to stardom leads him to doing small independent shows for little to no money until he is hit with a severe health issue. In a vain attempt to retire and live normal life, Randy pursues a relationship with Cassidy/Pam (Marisa Tomei) a dancer at the Strip Club he frequents and his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan rachel Wood). Unfortunately regular life and Randy do not mix well and he is forced to fall back on the only people who have always been there for him… the crowd.

The Wrestler in essence is a tragedy, being that it is so absolutely real it feels more documentary than motion picture. Mickey Rourke is perfect and so believable that had he not been a famous actor it would be hard pressed for you to convince me that “The Ram” wasn’t a real person. Not only is Marisa Tomei absolutely beautiful in this film but she brings a real humanity to Cassidy that ran parallels to some of the working girls I know in life. The movie was powerfully realistic and relevant and I think it will bring some much needed attention to the entertainment/sport of pro wrestling. To top it off the score is so melancholy and appropriate that it plays with your emotions as much as the action on screen.

This is not a rental folks, this is a purchase and treasured film for your collection. I am very glad to have seen it and with the low budget used to film it… shows that a tough story and an actor that can pull it off is all that is needed for cinema gold.

Written by Greg Dragon – who has written 364 reviews on Spicy Movie Dogs.

Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.