Another week, another great film. And the best actor race is getting impossible. Frank Langella, Josh Brolin now Mickey Rourke.
I have already posed the question in an election between George W Bush and Richard M Nixon just who exactly would you vote for? The answer could well be Randy "The Ram" Robinson.
A film which really took me back to the 80s with great 80s tunes, the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (which i still have and occasionally use like the character in this film) and a wrestling plot seeing a big blonde American hero vs the Ayatollah (Hulk Hogan vs Colonel Mustafa and Sgt Slaughter if ever i saw an inspiraction). Gotta love that nostalgia.
But The Wrestler is so much more than that, chiefly a superb performance by an agonising Mickey Rourke. Got to have an excellent Oscar shot. Bafta? Maybe less so because British old school voters might shy away from the wrestling theme, which would be a shame.
On a side note - apparently Leo DiCaprio is "a guarantee", really? For what? Certainly not for the dull, over-cooked Body Of Lies (more on this soon) and i question Revolutionary Road. Great movie but he is the least impressive of the performances here. Thanks to his reputation he may score a nom but in a year with a lot of very strong actor performances i suspect he may not make the cut.
Awards chances: Rourke has a great chance here, especially if all the other noms go to the politically themed films (Frost/Nixon, W., Milk, Che) and help Rourke's down-on-his-luck wrestler stand out from the pack. The film is solid but less likely, this is Rourke's show, like Hurricane or Monster the performance is the film. In a slow year Rachel Evan Wood is good enough to stand a chance at a supporting nom but it's a small part so competition could be too high - after all no matter how good Christina Ricci was in Monster no one noticed because she was so overshadowed by Theron, that Charlize's performance was all you remembered.
