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“I could have been a contender. I could’ve been somebody”. When Marlon Brando uttered those immortal lines in the 1950’s masterpiece On the Waterfront, he could have been talking about Mickey Rourke. The volatile actor has been to hell and back on a desperate binge of drugs, sex and various other excesses. But he returns triumphant in The Wrestler. 

It is hard to believe that the role of Randy “The Ram” Robinson was not invented with Rourke in mind. His face is battered from various plastic surgery, and his boyish good looks have long since deserted him. However, Rourke’s tattered and aged appearance makes his part of the fallen idol even more believable. He looks like a cross between an eighties rock god and Hulk Hogan, with the alarming tan of Peter Andre to match. At some points in the film, such as when Randy tells his daughter that he’s an “old, broken- down piece of meat” you begin to feel as if Rourke is not acting, but indeed himself is looking for one last chance. There are some desperately sad moments in the film, such as when Randy attempts to relive the glory days by playing as himself on an old, outdated 1980s computer game. The Jersey Boardwalk that Rourke walks along serves as a metaphor for him. Once a major attraction, it is now broken-down and beaten up, but somehow still manages to retain its rugged appeal.

 

Rourke’s troubled personal life has been much covered in the media. A huge star in the 1980s with films like Boogie in Diner and Rumble Fish to his name, his bright star started to fade rapidly as it had appeared. Rourke admitted in an interview earlier this year that his depression become so great that he almost took his own life. “If I wasn’t Catholic I would have blown my brains out. I would pray to God. I would say please can you send me just a little bit of daylight. My priest is this cool Italian from New York, Father Pete. He put me back on the right track.” And on this showing, Mickey does indeed appear to be back on course.

 

The drama takes place in working class New Jersey, with Rourke wrestling at the weekend and stocking supermarket shelves in the week. The bleak scenery matches the somber mood of the piece. This in no Hollywood flick, but a remarkably honest piece of film. Unlike other sports movies there is no last minute winning goal, no final triumphant round of boxing. But the results of Randy’s fights are irrelevant. What matters is not in the ring, but how he and his battered heart find comfort and peace.