The Wrestling Bard 01.31.09: The Wrestler

Posted by Aaron Hubbard on 01.31.2009

The Bard's thoughts on Darren Arnofsky's "The Wrestler". Plus KENTA vs. Kotaro Suzuki!

Alright, first, I have to thank everybody who commented on my article last week. I think that was the first column in 411 history to have more than 10 comments and no true negativity. I like this feature, and I'll think I'll be busting it out at the end of every month.

Okay, so a few random thoughts before I get to my main topic:

--- Okay, I didn't read the spoilers on Rumble Sunday. So I got a huge kick out of posting the Imperial Rumble with surprise entrant Rob Van Dam, only to see him debut in the ACTUAL Rumble less than 24 hours later. That was quite a trip.

--- After agreeing to this nonsense, I had to read Chambers Wacky Fact or Fiction to see how he responded to his questions. Then I got a headache and remembered why I don't read this guy in the first place. I also decided I need to look up synonyms for the word "caveat".

--- This is the greatest comment ever.

...Jesus and Judas celebrate momentarily, having saved Christ from -- SAY IT AIN'T SO -- that traitorous bastard has just betrayed Jesus! Judas has laid Jesus out with a sack of coins and Undertaker is steadily climbing back into the ring. Oh-no, His face has become a proverbial crimson mask. Can Jesus make it to his feet? JE-SUS...JE-SUS... JE-SUS...

Barely up, The Dead Man knocks the wind out of Jesus with a Spear. One...Two.. Jesus kicks out before three! Look at the worry on Mary, ringside. She's seen him take beatings before, but never like this.

Both fighters are up now, and Undertaker unleashes a thunderous blow that's hurled like a sinless stone. The Son of God staggers -- but turns the other cheek!! What moxie from the Messiah. A quick clinch and Undertaker sets Jesus up for a Crucifix Powerbomb --

Wait... here come the rest of The Apostles! Matthew's out! The brothers, Peter and Andrew, rush the ring...

Seriously, that is full of win. Kudos to trueindeed.

--- This got me thinking. Hypothetically, if Jesus WERE a wrestler, what would that be like? Well we know his Father was a shooter from the account of His match with Abraham. We also can assume that he would know the counter to the Walls of Jericho, so Jericho would have to use something else. Oh, and he'd probably be doing Taker's zombie sit-up all the time. But what would the point be? He was all about turning the other cheek, so I doubt he'd even fight. And since his Father has a history of no-shows (Backlash 2006?), would he be the same?

--- PLUGS!

Hayhurst!
Grimm!
Eubanks!
Csonka! The Other Guy!
Lansdell!
Martinez!

AND NOW THE MAAAAAAAAAAIIIINNN EVENT!

Thoughts on "The Wrestler"

I've been excited about this movie for roughly a year. After hearing all the buzz around it, and given the subject matter, I knew I would have to see this when the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, because I live in Rose Hill, Kansas and the nearest theatre is in Wichita, it took FOREVER to get here. However, I finally saw it this week. I know a lot of people have given their thoughts on the film (it's been reviewed three times in the 411 movie section). But I came into this with a different point of view than most of the staff, so I figured I'd give my thoughts.

First off, I would say that I'm glad that this movie is not nominated for "Best Picture". It is a great, great film, and it definitely has a place on my shelf once it comes out. However, I don't think I'll be popping it in every few months to experience the thrill of watching it. The film is not the joy ride that Iron Man was, and although it is just as dark as or darker than the Dark Knight, it doesn't leave you with a hopeful spirit after the movie. I left feeling very sad for the main character, but very impressed with the movie.

That said, Mickey Rourke deserves every single "Best Lead Actor" award out there for his magnificent performance. He played this role to PERFECTION. Rourke pulled you into the character of Randy "the Ram" Robinson, almost making you forgetting that it was an actor playing Randy and not Randy himself. More than that, Rourke basically carried the entire weight of this movie on his back. That movie was either going to live or die based on Rourke's performance. Marissa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood perform well in the roles they have, but this movie was about "the Ram" first and everyone else in a distant second.

Darren Arnofsky and his crew also deserve a ton of credit. Rourke was giving a brilliant performance, but Arnofsky was able to catch that performance in an artistic way that gives the film a raw, barebones mentality that just complements Rourke's and the rest of the cast's raw performance. I'm not an expert in camera work and I care more about acting, but this was well done.

Now with this said, I want to go over a dozen scenes that really made the movie memorable to me. I will never forget watching this film or the series of emotions it put me through. Sometimes it would make me laugh, sometimes cheer, and often in awed silence.

The First Wrestling Match: As a huge fan of wrestling, this was going to be the make or break scene for me. I didn't care how good the rest of the movie is, if you have a movie called "the Wrestler", than the wrestling better be passable. I was expecting something akin to Hogan's appearance in Rocky III, where there would just be a series of spots. Instead, the makers of this movie decided to script both this match and the final match had a flow and a story. While neither would break a * rating from me if I actually saw them at a wrestling show, they translated very well to film.

Various Acts of Preparation: People have said that this movie is similar to a case study. One of the reasons this film succeeded in that was that Arnofsky did his research on what wrestler's need to do to maintain their look. Taking two seconds to film Randy shaving his body, bleaching his hair, tanning in a salon, lifting weights, jogging in the forest, and even taking steroids was a good move on the scripter's part. Those uninitiated would learn something about how much wrestling controls the lives of those who follow that career.

The Video Game: One of the more subtle scenes in the film, this scene showed just how out of touch Randy is. His only game is one with himself and his rival (the Ayatollah) for the original NES. The video game might as well be ancient, and although the kid obliges Randy for a little while, he eventually gets bored, because the game is just outdated. Subtly, we get to see how Randy's career is basically on life support, only continuing due to nostalgia. If Randy can't appeal to kids like the one who played the game with him, he'll never succeed on a national level again.

Cassidy is Rejected by Several Men: One of the best parts about the script of this movie is the choice to have Randy's love interest be a stripper. Strippers have a career where they use their bodies for the entertainment of testosterone filled men. Their careers have a short life expectancy and the industry is always looking for the next big thing. You have to sell a lot of your time and a part of your soul to be successful in that career. Obviously, a lot of parallels can be drawn between that industry and professional wrestler, but strippers are much more common in movies than wrestlers. By using an over-the-hill stripper as a love interest, Arnofsky was able to imply the similarities and allow the non-fan to sympathize with Randy and his sacrifices. As Randy slowly realizes that his career is in its twilight, we get a scene where Pam (alias Cassidy) goes around the strip joint offering a dance to several men, only to be rejected time and time again. It's a powerful character moment for Pam and a great metaphor for what Randy is experiencing.

Presents for Stephanie: I'm not talking about the shopping scene. I'm talking about the scene where Randy actually gives her the presents. I love how he gives her the awful sweater with "S" for Stephanie first, and then reads her reaction. When he sees that she's not happy, then he gives her the coat, which she appreciates. There is a lot of communication without words in this scene, and I thought it was brilliantly done.

The Injury Flashbacks: Possibly my favorite scene in the whole movie. Arnofsky uses a powerful and irrefutable method of showing the damage wrestlers do to their bodies to entertain. While obviously matches as violent as the one depicted here rarely happen, and the damage is rarely that brutal, it definitely gets the point across. We see Randy's scarred, battered body, and then we go to each of injuries, only to flashback to how each injury was received in the match. The match itself was exciting and cringe-worthy. Necro Butcher will likely raise his stock due to this performance.

Randy Runs the Deli: Man, talk about a boring menial job. While most of us would just drag ourselves through this task, Randy can't. He's been an entertainer all of his life, and he has a need to connect with an audience and put on a good show. The fact that Arnofsky chose to use real people instead of actors allowed for a more natural reaction to Randy's antics, and the scene was made better for it. With much of the film being depressing, this simple, happy scene will bring a smile to your face.

Unhappy Reunions: One of the most poignant moments of the film takes place at a fan signing. Several legends of the past gather to sign autographs, sell tapes and T-Shirts, and make a little money off of what fame they have left. Trouble is, there are more wrestlers than fans. Everybody goes to Randy, but most of the others are neglected. Fans aren't kind to the wrestlers of the past, as new stars are made and replace the old ones. The fact that almost all of them are in obviously in poor health and the only one who shows no outward signs (Randy) has just had a heart attack, paints a sad, but realistic picture of the lives of so many who stepped in the squared circle.

"Just a Beat-Up Piece of Meat": One of the most cliché plot points about this film is Randy's estranged relationship with his daughter. Unfortunately, even though it's cliché, this plot point almost needed to be done to illustrate another thing wrestlers sacrifice for their careers: family. Eventually, he and his daughter try to make things work. Rourke confesses, teary-eyed, his faults and asks his daughter not to hate him. Not even to forgive him, just not to hate him. This moment could have been melodramatic, but the script is so raw, and the delivery is so smooth, that it just comes out real and authentic.

Groupies and Chainsaws: At one point, Randy goes to a wrestling show out of depression, and then parties with the boys afterwards. After drinking alcohol, he allows a young, mostly attractive blonde to seduce him. After smoking some illegal drug, Randy has sex with her in a public restroom. He wakes up the next night in a room full of posters of fireman wearing nothing and only giant chainsaws covering up their genitalia. Besides being an obvious reference to the rockstar party life of wrestlers, this was the comedic highlight of the film. If you don't find this funny, you probably eat kittens.

The Breakdown: This refers to a couple of specific scenes, as well as the plot in general. I've seen a ton of movies where there are problems with a career, problems with a love interest, and problems with family. Almost without fail, no matter what the problems are, the hero reconciles with everybody and everything is right in the end. Not that I have anything against happy endings, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. I appreciated that this movie had all of these clichéd problems, but at the end, they just end up worse. It is implied that Randy dies at the end, and he dies a broken man, who has no pride, no money, no self-respect, and a daughter and a potential lover that hate him. One particular scene shows the complete disintegration of his relationship with Stephanie. If somebody had told me that this scene had been filmed in some random home with a hidden camera, I wouldn't have doubted it. You feel for both sides, as Steph clearly has every right to not care about her father, but we know that he is trying to fix it. A very tragic scene that leads to his climax.

The Speeches: It is difficult for a movie that could have been a documentary of someone's life to have a satisfactory ending, especially when there is no happy one. In two speeches near the end, Randy sums up his character and the movie. The first is to Pam, where he explains that in the real world, he vulnerable, but in the ring, nothing can hurt him. In the ring, he talks about his problems, but that no matter what those problems are, he is thankful to the fans for giving him an escape, and that the only people who will tell him to retire are the people. For a movie that seems to be less about wrestling than the problems a past-his-prime man with all sorts of problems, the movie ends by reminding us that all of Randy's problems were caused by his career, and that all he has left at the end is wrestling.

This was a very poignant film, and Rourke's performance is nothing short of brilliant. In order to impress me, this film had to do three things: 1) have an excellent story, 2) have the brilliant, career-defining performance that was hyped, and 3) serve as a tribute to the lives of the real professional wrestlers and depict their stories honestly. It succeeded in all three. The story pulls you in and leaves you with something you remember, Rourke carries an entire film on his back with his amazing acting, and the movie tells the stories of so many wrestlers honestly, neither glorifying or condemning their actions.

As a wrestling fan, you owe it to yourself to see this movie at least once. I give it ****3/4.

Weekly Wrestling
This is the part of the column where I insert some random Japanese match for the people who felt that the column itself was a waster of their time. My opinion on this is that it's my Match of the Month for January. It's a long one, but it is well worth it. Kotaro Suzuki gives a memorable heel performance, including a stunt that Eddie Guerrero would be proud of, while KENTA proves he can work more than one style and be entertaining.