Movie Reviews

Niko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight Pictures

Review in a Hurry: At last, a movie about the way pro wrestling really works. Mickey Rourke is Robin Ramzinski, aka Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a broken down '80s wrestling star who now works at a grocery store during the week and struts his stuff in tights at elementary school gymnasiums on the weekends.

The Bigger Picture: Fans of pro wrestling have long realized that taking the Rocky approach to that world onscreen doesn't really work, when we know that in reality, match outcomes are preordained. The real drama is in the behind-the-scenes lives of those who work toward the pretense of competition, in the process getting as banged up as any pro athlete, but not getting credit for their skills because it's "fake."

Documentaries like Beyond the Mat and Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows have compellingly entered that world, but Darren Aronofsky's drama is the first fiction film to take that same approach, and it pays off well.

Rourke was trained for the movie by legendary WWE performer Afa the Wild Samoan, and is utterly convincing as an '80s legend worn down by years of beatings and painkillers. Following a hardcore weapons match against indie circuit fave Necro Butcher (playing himself, wonderfully), the Ram's heart fails, and when he wakes up following surgery, he's told he can never wrestle again.

The tragedy initially serves as a wake-up call—he tries to mend fences with his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), and build them with the lovely stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), with whom he can relate in that both bust their butts to put their bodies on display even as age makes the performance harder and less lucrative. But when a normal life seems consistently beyond his reach, Randy mulls the offer to return to the ring, even if it's literally the last thing he ever does. Director Aronofsky gets all the details right in a movie that feels like a tribute to so many who were gone too soon: Curt Hennig, Road Warrior Hawk, Rick Rude, et al...this one's for you.

The 180—a Second Opinion: The Bruce Springsteen song that plays over the end credits feels out of place, and its insinuation that a wrestler is a "one-trick pony" is insulting. Also, Tomei's large, fresh-looking back tattoo doesn't seem quite right on a woman who's saving for a house.