Comment:
The Movie: 7
Like Robert Redford’s Electric Horseman, Randy “The Ram” Robinson
is a man with his best years behind him – a long way behind
him. He was at the top of his game twenty years ago, but
professional wrestling has taken its toll. All the same
this doesn't keep him from giving and taking a beating
whenever he can get work, which is no longer for the big
bucks. (He lives in a trailer, and usually behind in his
rent.) Given what he feels he has to do to his body to keep
it looking good, and the abuse he suffers in the ring, it is
no wonder that his heart fails the Timex test.
After leaving the hospital with a foot-long scar from a heart
bypass operation, Randy attempts to embrace a normal, if
humdrum, life. Feeling his mortality more exquisitely than
in the ring, he tries to connect with his favorite lap dance
stripper, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) and his estranged daughter,
Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), whose ball Randy has dropped
once too often to hold out much promise for reconciliation.
Cassidy, while in her forties, still has the moves and the
body to do her job, but she is also a single mom with two
young ones at home – a job, unlike Randy, that she takes
seriously.
Randy's heart attack certainly changes his perspective, if not his
hopes and dreams. This is true for all concerned here. The
damage Randy has done to himself and his daughter may be
irrevocable. And Cassidy has seen men like him before.
The Movie:
Image:
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were
obtained directly from the
Blu-ray disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
While this Blu-ray appears to be faithful to its theatrical
presentation, this is not an image you'd want to take home
to mother. It seems to go out of its way to make certain we
do not see the protagonist's life, or his life's work, as
something colorful or even desirable. “Ugly” is a word that
is not far from the truth of it. We have the feeling that
the cinematographer made use of no lighting assists, so
realistic is the effect. Night time shooting outdoors and
in the strip club have very little shadow detail. Indoor
scenes, like the locker room, delicatessen, strip club and
in the ring are very high contrast, often with a peculiar
pumped up color. Again, I don’t think any of this is the
“fault” of the transfer – but rather the considered artistic
effect desired. So pervasive are these effects that
questions of artifacts, enhancements or noise are
irrelevant, though I wasn’t really aware of any problems in
these areas.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music: 8/8
While the image may be murky, the audio certainly isn't. At al
times, we can tell exactly where we are with our eyes closed
by attending to the ambiance: every wrestling venue has its
unique signature, with audience noises all around us when
the camera is in the ring. The body blows, falls and
crunches the wrestlers indulge in sound and like a whole lot
of hurt. The music we hear in the stripper club has that
familiar, fat, overblown, unfocused bass that makes you want
to get wasted or spend money or both. The dialogue, though
just clear enough, is often barely audible through the din
or, elsewhere, whispered in Rourke's inimitable style.
Operations: 3
Like the Blu-ray of the new Notorious, Fox Searchlight has disabled
the Top Menu function on the remote so, among other things,
we have to toggle through previews like the old days. We
also must use either the chapter advance or the Pop-Up menu
button to return to the menu if we’re in one of the extra
features – none of which, by the way, have chapter stops, a
huge oversight for the making-of featurette.
Extras: 5
Without an audio or BonusView-type commentary, behind-the-scenes or
making of features are pretty much the province of the
42-minute “Within the Ring” which is sufficiently extensive
to cover the necessary territory. The feature film is
approached and shot as a quasi-documentary (whose hand-held
camerawork, following Rourke over his shoulder I found a
little triresome), so it is expected we should hear from
those pro wrestlers without whose direct participation such
a film could not have been made. Here are: King Kong Bundy,
Tony Atlas, Lex Lethal and Tommy Farra.
“Within the Ring” begins with Aronofsky’s admission that pro
wrestling has always held a special fascination for him and
how this led to the movie many years later. [There is an
excellent and extensive interview with the director by Terry
Keefe
HERE. Together with behind-the-scenes material and
footage from the movie, we also hear from the writer Rob
Siegel, producer Scott Franklin, editor Andy Weisblum,
cinematographer Maryse Alberti, production designer Tim
Grimes, stunt coordinator Doug Crosby and Mickey Rourke’s
stunt double Armond "Kid U.S.A." Ciceri. 21 year-old Evan
Rachel Wood (Across the Universe) has her say about
what it was like working with Aronovsky from a partly
improvised script, but conspicuously absent in the extra
features are interviews with either Mickey Rourke or Marisa
Tomei.
In the "Wrestler Round Table" Featurette, Wrestling Hall of Famers:
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Lex Luger, "Diamond" Dallas
Page, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine,
together with moderator Damon Andrews, talk about their work
and offer their views on how realistically the movie
portrayed the life.
All of the bonus features are in 480p, but only the music video is
letterboxed. The quality is fair to good, though some of
the title frames are oddly cropped.
Recommendation: 7
If
the world of professional wrestling has a hold on you or if
you nothing about it and have never watched a match, then
this is a must see movie. The Wrestler balances the
surrealistic life in the ring - convincingly staged, I might
add - with the devastating toll it takes on the personal
life of one of its actors and his family. As the critics
say, this is Mickey Rourke’s comeback role and I can’t
imagine the film without him. Neither as iconically heroic
as Rocky nor as depressing as Leaving Las Vegas,
The Wrestler finds its own intimate truth – and we
believe it because of Rourke's subtle performance. Don’t
expect to find an engaging image just because it’s Blu-ray,
but the DTS HD-MA audio is very good indeed.
Leonard Norwitz
April 23rd, 2009