THE WRESTLER Fox Searchlight 4 / 5

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Mickey Rourke is a bit like Bill Murray's character in GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) not because he's doomed to live the same day over and over again but because he is a God. Way back in the depths of time, as the murky, musty 80's were coming to a close and the 90's were just beginning, Mickey Rourke was widely regarded as the hottest up-and-coming actor on the planet. In films like RUMBLEFISH (1983) and BARFLY (1987) but most especially in ANGEL HEART (1987), Rourke was anointed as the chosen one, the next De Niro or Pacino, the next God of the silver screen.

Even when only on the screen for the quickest most cursory roles he can pack a huge punch. He had the briefest of cameo appearances in the Sean Penn movie, THE PLEDGE, (2001) and, for my money, it's the best cameo of all time. Ever! He's in the film for all of 30 seconds and acts Jack Nicholson off the screen. In the films above and the more recent SIN CITY (2005) he displayed an animal ferocity and intensity, coupled with the charisma and wounded psyche of Brando. Anyone you can speak of in the same hushed and reverential tones as Nicholson and Brando must be a God.

THE WRESTLER is the latest from Darren Aronofsky and Rourke plays a beaten, battered and broke wrestler trying to relive his glory days. Marisa Tomei plays a stripper, the object of his affections and Rachel Evan Wood plays his alienated daughter.

There's an obvious irony in the movie in that Mickey Rourke was once the Hollywood favorite. He was a golden boy with a golden future but some - how he managed to turn the gold into mud. He fell off the rails, giving up acting and taking up boxing, eventually having to have reconstructive surgery to correct the damage inflicted by a hard life in the ring and a harder life outside.

His character Randy 'The Ram' Robinson had an equally glorious past but his life has caught up with him. He's living in a trailer park, when he can scrounge the money for rent. His daughter hates him. His only friend's the people that remember his former glory. He's the type of character Rocky Balboa might have become if Apollo Creed hadn't rescued him from a life of quiet desperation.

Rourke's performance is absolutely flawless. His intimate scenes with Rachel Evan Wood leave you longing for reconciliation between father and daughter and, under Aronofsky's gentle, genius direction, the film soars above what would have been a humdrum movie in the hands of a lesser director.

In the words of Henry Chinaski from BARFLY, "Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead". Well Mickey Rourke has certainly seen his fair share of crazy but I, for one, am delighted for that. If anything, his rocky path has fine tuned the raw talent he displayed in his youth and there's a truth and honesty in his performance that is worthy of awards. Mickey Rourke, he is a God and he shoulda won the Oscar!

Jason OÕMahony
www.foxsearchlight.com/thewrestler

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