Rourke's comeback performance earns The Wrestler punch-drunk love
Mickey Rourke earns his justly celebrated comeback as a ravaged, washed-up 1980s relic in 'The Wrestler,' directed by Darren Aronofsky.
Randy “The Ram” Robinson brings a razor blade to a wrestling match in one of The Wrestler's first scenes.
Initially, director Darren Aronofsky watches Randy (Mickey Rourke) from a distance, his camera taking in the athlete's weathered but expansive musculature. Right before the bout, Aronofsky comes in for a closeup of Randy hiding a piece of razor on his person. During the bruising, blustery, low-rent match, Randy secretly uses the blade not against his opponent, but on himself, so his bloody forehead can increase the drama and showmanship of his preordained victory.
Randy’s thin gash to his own brow marks just the first wound he inflicts on himself in The Wrestler. Randy ruled the ring as a pro wrestler in the 1980s, but 20 years later, his beefy, abused physique serves as a monument to his punishing profession and poor choices in his personal life. At one point Randy describes himself as “an old, broken-down piece of meat,” and the scrutiny The Wrestler brings to Randy’s flesh elevates a potentially sentimental drama about a washed-up palooka into a showcase for an enormously compelling piece of acting. You can’t tear your eyes away.