The Fighter Review: the Best Fights Finish with Everyone Standing

Dicky Eklund was the Pride of Lowell, MA. Between 1975 and 1985 Eklund was a professional Welterweight and Light Welterweight boxer, and most notably when he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978. But Eklund was not only the Pride of Lowell, but also the pride of his family including his younger half brother, Micky Ward who followed in Dicky's footsteps and became a boxer himself.

But the true knockout of Eklund''s career came from an addiction to crack cocaine. While Eklund was apparently using even before his retirement, it was after his retirement in 1985 that his addiction fully took over his life.

The Fighter is a film based on Micky Ward's struggle to succeed in his own boxing career while fighting to get out from under the shadow of his troubled brother who also served as an unreliable trainer.

As Ward, (Mark Wahlberg) struggles to get his career going with his brother as his trainer, and mother, Alice, ( Melissa Leo), as his manager he starts dating a bartender in Lowell, Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams) who encourages him to pursue his boxing goals with a trainer and management outside his family

By stepping back from his family, Ward indeed starts to find new success in boxing and moves on to better and better fights, still he doesn't disregard his brother's training completely, and in a pinch he reverts back to incorporating some of the tricks of the trade he learned from Dicky.

Like many boxing films before it, The Fighter is a story that goes well beyond the ring and into the struggles that can find anyone and knock any of us out if we fail to stand up and fight.

The Fighter steps into the 2011 Academy awards ring a bit of an underdog having been the subject of less hype than other contenders such as Black Swan and The King's Speech. But makes it's mark with nomination for Christian Bale for his portrayal of the troubled Dicky Eklund, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo each have a best supporting actress nomination, David O. Russel has a nod for directing, Pamela Martinhas one for film editing, the film's original screenplay by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson was nominated also, and last but not least The Fighter also has a Best Picture nomination.

Win or lose, it's clear no one is going to knock this film out.