Based on a true story, The Fighter tells of rags to riches, love between siblings, family relationships, and boxing.

Micky (Mark Wahlberg – on the right) and Dicky (Christian Bale – on the left) are half-brothers. Dicky is almost 10 years older and he was a boxer, and a pretty good one at that. Once, the tale goes, he knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard, or did he? He is now a boxing trainer, and he has taken Nicky under his wings. Nicky is forever the underdog, not because of his own lack of work and skill, but because of the battles of all those ‘loved ones’ around him.

Dicky is the most nutty, gritty and shady character I have seen in a movie in a long time. Nutty above all. He loves his brother. He will beg, steal and borrow to take care of him and help him become the fighter that he never was. There is also a full house of sisters that have opinions, a mother who knows what’s best for her boys, and a father who is there to support them all.

This is the boxing movie you can watch even if you know little or nothing about boxing. You will still enjoy it.The acting is outstanding. Blue collar America fills the frames from the first minute to the last. Blue collar America with guts, with hope and with love, that is.

Rating: ***