Review: Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler

Jan 22 2009 By Mari Jones

DON’T go and watch The Wrestler (105 mins, cert 15) expecting to be cheered up, but to see a masterclass in acting with Mickey Rourke reminding us why he was being feted as the new Brando in the 1980s.

This is a long overdue comeback for Rourke, who for a time was the most lusted-after actor on the planet, after delivering sizzling performances in 9½ Weeks, Angel Heart and Rumble Fish.

His face is now so gnarled he hardly looks recognisable from his heyday but it’s perfect for this story of a champion wrestler who used to headline at Madison Square Gardens, but is now reduced to serving baloney at the deli counter in his local supermarket.

Two decades on, looking like an 80s throwback with his badly dyed blond mane, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke) now makes cash performing pantomime-like fights in local schools and gyms for wrestling fans. The bouts don’t make him enough money to pay the rent for his grim trailer as he spends any cash he has on illegal steroids to pump up his overtanned body and private dances with an ageing stripper called Cassidy (Marisa Tomei).

His attempts to reconnect with estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) are heartbreakingly poignant but the film never seeks the viewer’s pity.

The wrestling scenes were almost too brutal to watch: in one especially bloody scene the two wrestlers pepper each other with a staple gun.

It would be a real fairytale if Rourke wins the best acting Oscar as he, just like Randy, has been in the wilderness for far too long. Judging by this performance I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of him very soon.

10/10