The Wrestler: Underground Movie Review

Wrestling has been a mainstay for a lot of decades already. From grandfather to father to son, we bet you all of them know or at least liked wrestling one time in their lives. Who cares if it is fake anyway? For us, wrestling has its allure not only on the dazzling moves that these "athletes" can do but more so on the pumped-up, machismo storylines and characters they create - it is like your superheroes have come to life. Many people associate wrestling though as only entertainment and only entertainment alone; Wrestling should be taken lightly, nothing more, nothing less. "The Wrestler" tries to deviate from this mindset though. It does not try to mask itself with amazing wrestling moves nor does it hide itself with a typical storyline. "The Wrestler" tries to capture the reality that wrestlers face - the drama that we do not see nor feel for them when they are in the squared-circle. Can "The Wrestler" make us see that professional wrestling is beyond entertainment alone? Read on to find out more.

"The Wrestler" stems from the character Robin Ramzinski (Mickey Rourke). Robin is better known for his stage name, Randy "The Ram" Robinson and as the movie title implies, he is a professional wrestler. Randy's wrestling career though is past its prime; Randy was the Hogan of the 80's. Now, at present time, Randy still wrestles but mostly on a small town league that almost no one watches. Randy's life also mirrors his wrestling career or even worse. Randy is living alone with his only daughter hating him so much. Randy, after a hardcore match, suffers a heartattack. He survives but he cannot wrestle any longer due to a weakened heart. Randy now has to face a new reality - a reality and a life that he has always avoided and masked by being a wrestler. Can he survive this new life or will he give in to his temptations? 

Now for the movie, it was just amazing and breathtaking to watch. People know wrestlers have their own lives but nothing probably captures the drama that these stars hide from us. It may be over-the-top and might not be applicable for all wrestlers out there but we just cannot help but to symphatize with The Ram. All of this cannot only be linked with the great storyline or the great visuals and music; nope, actually it was delivered more so by the acting, especially Mickey Rourke. Rourke just brought the house down and makes a performance that is truly believable. You have to see this guy in action; it was as if he was actually "The Ram" and experienced all these sufferings and misfortunes for real. Thanks Mickey for making us see that wrestlers are still humans with feelings. The only quip we have for this film is the open ended ending. We have never been fans of this type of conclusions and we believe we never will be. This is a must watch for everyone just be mindful though that this film has nudity, sexual themes and mature topics and languages.

Rating: 5 reels

Why you should watch it:

- Mickey Rourke just shows a soft side that brings a tinge of reality wih his portrayal as a rundown wrestler

- gives you a reality that wrestling is still "real" in one sense

Why you shouldn't watch it:

- people might oppose with us but we did not like the open-ended ending. we rather would have wanted a conclusion - good or bad.