The Wrestler

Instant Classic.



I am a huge Wrestling Mark, a fan of over thirteen years, having followed about three major prowrestling companies in North America during the span. Some of the wrestlers, I have simply marked out of my skin for the amazing ability to entertain even without touching the other person in the ring. However, Hulk Hogan was someone that never impressed me. Though I have said, and on this very day, that no discussion of prowrestling in America can be done without Hogan, I stand by the idea that I am not impressed by a guy who has altered his routine very little during the past thirty years. But that does not take away from what he has done to the sport, both in the good and the bad way, and the amount of legitimate mainstream attention he brought to prowrestling. Hogan, even in his best years, was packaged by the media, twice his worth. The question is not something we ponder over on an everyday basis, but what if, Hogan had not been packaged so during the Rock n Wrestling era?


The answer is, he would have become, Randy The Ram Robinson. Caught between two worlds in and outside the ring, Mickey Rourke's portrayal of a wrestler's life in his twilight years shows that this is a movie not meant just for a wrestling fan, but for everyone. With just about three matches where Rourke fights (very ordinary matches at that), a wrestlign fan can simply youtube better fights. But what happens when a superstar is made to shift boxes for a living? There is no money in the independent circuits of wrestling, not for a guy like The Ram, and still he succumbs to the famous wrestler's sickness of wanting to fight one more match?

Following the above paragraph, I had about a month off writing blogs. Lot of things happened in that break; I presented a paper on pro wrestling; definitely a first in JU and maybe one of the first few in all of India (though Massachussets institute of technology offers a paper on it now). I also made my debut (solo debut, at least) as a director of a play, however short it was and small the audience be. With an exceptionellent cast and crew, going by the name, The (Insert Name) Theatrical Society, we proved that we were Tough Enough! I wanna continue that and prove myself to be dogged; so I am at it again; blogging. Btw, WM26 has gone by last week, we have two new champions and a great career ended. So This review goes out to all those tough men and women who go out there week in/week out to entertain us.

So is this a pure wrestling movie? NOT EVEN CLOSE! We get to see about four matches, not good in quality or length. The match against the Necro Butcher showed the spirit of Indy wrestling, but not so much the technicalities involved in a match. Of course, we saw how a match is "booked" (written to order) in current fashion contrasted to the Old School (where Ayatollah tells Randy, that he is the heel and Randy is the face, and that is how they are going to wrestle). The common viewer who has always sniggered at wrestling being "fake" now knows what goes on, but it truly does not focus on these details. Like any good movie, this follows the logic behind wrestling (and behind all entertainment), Kayfabe (Pig Latin for Fake). It is simple, actually. If you are watching a show like Scrubs or ER, you realize that Zack Braff/George Clooney is an actor playing a doctor. You do not expect him to come and do a heart transplant in the evening. So is Wrestling. And like any other movie where a single protagonist's struggle for identity shows a journey between his/her professional and personal lives, the Wrestler does too. Randy is a man past his prime, both in his career and his life. He is not someone too smart. He has not made the smartest choices in his life. But at this point of time where everything is slipping away and that dramatic turn around he needs so much does not seem to just happen for him, he figures out that he needs to cope with it as an isolated individual without a past or a future. He lives only with his legacy which is simultaneously both the past and the future. At this height of existential tension, Randy the Ram Robinson flies off the top rope to hit the RamJam (a flying headbutt, which is a personal favorite; Chris Benoit, you are missed. But that is another story).

Why do I think this is an excellent film?
It is a well-made film, and contrary to drama, well-made is a compliment to a movie. The casting is apt with each actor delivering their parts in a very intense and sufficient manner. Rourke is a revalation. I have not seen any of his early works, except Angel Heart. And his Marv is a totally different kind of a beast. And still he oozes charisma whenever he is in front of a camera and he looks a real tough guy. He translates this energy without much difficulty to the screen in one of the best, if not the best performance in a "sports" movie. Marisa Tomei is a dream who can reflect the many layered complexity in her character in such an underplayed live-through. Rachel Evan Woods occupies so little screen time to warrant such a rivetting performance. I initially was a little pissed to see Ernest The Kat Miller as the main event wrestler in the movie. The Kat, in his best night was an upper-mid-card comic heel (translates in movie slang as the Guru in Alan Quartermain's City of Gold). He had no business, in my opinion, main-eventing in a serious movie. Given that the real big names who are out of wrestling (like Stone Cold and the Rock are out of question), I considered people like Sid Vicious, one or both of the Steiner brothers, and even seriously for a moment thought about Diamond Dallas Page (despite his Ready to Rumble fiasco). But man was I proven wrong, because despite his limited body of work on TV, Miller is one of the best on the mic and he is a natural actor. So he more than justifies his selection. The camera work and the editng was unobtrusive (which is the best thing that can happen in a movie like this) and the music... That song, One Trick Pony, left me with a lump in my throat. It was perfectly positioned and it makes you want to say it will be alright to that guy on screen, though you know it will not be. This movie is a success for me, because it captures in essence what a Modern American Tragedy is all about.

I can keep talking about his movie forever, so let me sum up, by giving a kind of a fact/fiction glossary about some of the wrestling stuff that happens in this movie.
The blood is fake: No, as you saw, a blade is used. However, most wrestlers are not as careful as Randy the Ram. Hogan is a famous blader. This is also called Juicing.
Chair shots are fake: No. When you take a chair shot on your person, it hurts. You hope it hits on a flat surface like two forearms together or the back. If you take one on your head, you just pray that you dont have a concussion.
People don't die from wrestling. The number of wrestlers who have died under 40 is disturbing. Sometimes, if one of your favorite wrestlers who is not a maineventer simply stops appearing on screen, he/she might have died. Many promotions do not report unless the wrestler is in contract/or is a legend. RIP to all those nameless warriors.
Wrestlers make a lot of money, they keep wrestling because they are addicted. Few wrestlers make it to a big promotion where they get a paycheck every month. Most wrestlers die trying in Indy circuits where they are paid by the bout. Few retire at a healthy age. Most, even if they are in a big promotion, invest their money foolishly (except maybe JBL, who is a WallStreet wiz in real life) and end up over-working themselves.
Wrestlers are wusses in real life. Guys like the Undertaker, Booker T, Steve Blackman, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton have legit cases of having engaged in physical confrontations off-wrestling, and all except maybe Orton are known to have kicked the other guy's ass.
If you have more queries, feel free to write in.