After many years of waiting for something to come into mainstream cinema that actually portrays an accurate story of a wrestler`s life, "The Wrestler" has finally met the credentials of such a movie.
However, despite winning a Golden Globe for best actor for Mickey Rourke`s work, there were still some flaws to the movie despite being a very accurate portrayal of what a wrestler`s life is typically like after he leaves the business.
It`s no secret that this movie was low budget as Mickey Rourke has stated himself on several occasions including his Golden Globe victory, and he did do an outstanding job in portraying a wrestler, but as a whole what the movie lacked was an actual plot to keep those who are unaware of what wrestling is really about watching to really learn what this movie is all about.
Nevertheless, the movie covered a lot of aspects that have never been covered before which are the realistic pain levels that wrestlers go through both throughout their active wrestling career as well as after their career is over and the pain that they go through on a day-to-day basis.
The elements that were really enjoyable about the movie were the points between each of the matches that took place throughout the film. It gave a real appreciation for the wrestlers that went through the kind of pain, and sacrifice in order to get to a higher level in their mainstream wrestling career.
However, once again for those who are unaware of what wrestling is all about – one thing that lacked was the movie`s dialogue in properly explaining what is going on throughout the various fighting scenes so that it`s understood what exactly going on in the scene.
At certain points the movie really grabs you by the throat and gives you a reality of what wrestlers struggling to make it go through but still seemed to lack in the drama and reaction of those surrounding the wrestler.
Our reaction overall to this movie is lukewarm as it`s great to see a movie that accurately portrays what wrestlers need to go through but hope that there will soon be another movie which perhaps gives a more clear perspective of how life really is outside of the ring for a wrestler who has succeeded in rising to the top – including some of the traveling experiences they go through and the true fan experience both in North America and across the world.
We at TNAFANSITE.COM give the Wrestler an 8/10 and look forward to more movies of the same subject but with more detail put on the reactions wrestlers get from the outside world after having made it in the business.