The Fighter is a 2010 biographical sports film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The film centers on the life of professional boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale). Amy Adams co-stars as a love interest of Ward. The Fighter is Russell and Wahlberg's third film collaboration, following Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees.
The film was released in select North American theaters on December 10, 2010 (limited) and is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2011.
Plot
As a welterweight from the wrong side of the tracks, Dicky Eklund is the pride of working class Lowell, Massachusetts. Living in his shadow is his half-brother and sparring partner Micky Ward. After fighting Sugar Ray Leonard, Dicky plunges into a nightmare of crack addiction, violence and prison. His family's hopes are crushed in the wake of Dicky's decline. Like a real life Rocky, Micky fights on his own terms and pulls his family out of despair with his meteoric rise in the ring. Freshly paroled Dicky finds redemption training his little brother, now known as "Irish" Micky Ward, for his Welterweight Championship bout with Shea Neary.
