For many minutes we see the protagonist of The Wrestler from behind, at angles that won't disclose his face. Director Darren Aronofsky teases the audience, working up anticipation for the moment of unveiling for once-handsome '80s leading man Mickey Rourke playing the incredibly damaged hulk called Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler on hard times.
Rourke gives an extraordinary performance, transcending a ravaged appearance suggesting some washed-up '80s heavy-metal star reduced to the county-fair circuit. Like Rourke himself, Randy has seen better days. Back in the '80s he was on top of the professional wrestling world, an all-American headbanger pitted against a boo-hiss villain called the Ayatollah. Now his looks are gone, his bones ache and a hearing aid is screwed into one ear. The Ram is playing to small halls for chump change against Tommy Rotten, a purple-mohawked punk rocker with a black Anarchy tattoo. The '90s weren't kind to Randy or to wrestling and the 21st century is bleaker than the wintry New Jersey landscape he inhabits.
The Wrestler is both heartbreaking and excruciating, ripping out tendons while yanking at heartstrings. Professional wrestling may be fake, but it's dangerous fake, leading to blood, broken bones and, for the Ram, a heart attack. He's periodically evicted from the trailer park and forced to sleep in his aging van. His dead-end warehouse food job barely supplements his dwindling income as a wrestler. He's in love with an exotic dancer (Marisa Tomei) who likes the big lug but steers clear of his embrace. He desperately wants to befriend his snarlingly hostile daughter from a long-ended marriage.
Outside the ring, Rourke favors a mumbly Brando delivery and eyes his diminished world with hurt, humor and desperation. In the ring he's a magnificent performer, swan-diving onto opponents and hamming it up with the best. The promoters want to reunite him with the Ayatollah, if the swarthy, shaven-headed villain can be coaxed from his retirement as a used car dealer. The prospect of one last fight becomes the Ram's reason for keeping on.
