If you’re familiar with the story, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the state of California.  This movie tells the story of his rise through the ranks of local politics (in the Eureka Valley of San Francisco on Castro Street) to his eventual election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and subsequent assassination at the hands of Dan White (played by Josh Brolin).

If you’re homophobic in the least this is definitely not the flick for you.  While the homosexual content isn’t over the top it’s paramount to the story.  Milk’s relationships with Cleve Jones (Emlie Hirsch) and Scott Smith (James Franco) take quite a bit of screen time but are weaved in so that you don’t forget what’s going on in the political storyline.  I’d be interested to learn how the real life Harvey Milk is remembered within the gay community.  Not sure if he’s thought of as an influential figure in history akin to MLK?  I’m completely ignorant on this topic as I’d never even heard of Milk until this flick came out.

Sean Penn ended up winning the Oscar (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role) for his portrayal of Harvey Milk.  I still think that Mickey Rourke was better in The Wrestler but that’s just one man’s opinion.  That said, I can completely understand why the Academy honored Penn – it was a GREAT performance.  If you’re a fan of great acting then you should definitely check this one out.  I wasn’t enthralled by the story as a whole but Penn stands out for sure.  As a movie I’d give it a mild recommendation.

Carlito & Primo vs. John Morrison & The Miz – no fucking idea why this wasn’t shown.  I’m not a huge fan of tag team wrestling but these guys are pretty solid in the ring and it would have been nice to see more of the roster on the 25th WrestleMania show.  This is especially true when we got what we did (keep reading).

Money In The Bank – good opener but I don’t think it should have been the opener.  This match included CM Punk, Mark Henry,  MVP, Finlay, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Christian Cage and Kane.  REALLY sloppy but I suppose I can forgive it cause there’s just so much going on.  Pretty sure Shelton took a header and no one caught him.  Ouch.

Kid Rock Performance – OK…  I love his music but what… the… fuck!  There’s absolutely NO NEED for him to sing 4 songs.  This is time that was wasted and should have been spent elsewhere on the show.

Diva Battle Royal – Um… OK.  Have a dude win Miss WrestleMania???  As Pip said, that’s the kind of thing that you should do like the 5th or 6th time you have this battle royal… not the first and CERTAINLY not on this show.  The announcers didn’t even know who was in the ring.  Pathetic.  These weren’t announced on the show so in case you’re interested here’s the divas that were included:  Santina Marella, Eve Torres, Jillian, Katie Lea, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Beth Phoenix, Alicia Fox, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Melina, Maria, Natalya, Mickie James, Tiffany, Rosa Mendez, Joy Giovanni, Molly Holly, Jackie Gayda, Sunny, Torrie Wilson and Victoria.

Chris Jerico vs. Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka & Ricky Steamboat (with Ric Flair) – There’s dust that’s younger than Snuka and his one man-boob sticking out was just terrible.  I can’t remember Piper EVER doing a dropkick and his one-legged variation reminded me why.  Steamboat was awesome… simply amazing.  We made a comment that he could get in there today and win the IC title.  It was so great to see a “legend” that still has it.  Thank you Ricky Steamboat!  The Wrestler was a great movie but the whole Rourke tie-in was gay on the PPV.  We totally saw it coming and his doing with 1 punch what the other guys couldn’t do three on one?  Come on.  WWE fans deserve better than this.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy – I actually put the boys to bed during this and heard that I didn’t miss much.  The final twist of fate was pretty cool through from what I saw on the replay.

JBL/Rey Misterio - huh???  JBL’s been talking for weeks about how he’s going to do something “special” at WrestleMania.  So he goes out, proceeds to lose the Intercontinental title in 21 seconds and then quit?  Whatever.  JBL deserves better than this.

Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels – WOW!!!  Fucking wow.  This right here made it worth the $55 that I spent on the show.  Absolutely unbelievable.  This match just got itself a spot in my “Top 10 WrestleMania matches” list.  SO glad that they kept the streak intact.  In fact I’ll be super fucking bitter if they ever end it.  Mean Mark Calloway deserves to retire with it.

Edge vs. The Big Show vs. John Cena – I thought for sure that Edge or Show was going to take it.  I was pleasantly surprised that Cena took it down.  I really like him as champ rather than playing the role of chasing the title.

HHH vs. Randy Orton – OK… what the hell happened here?  They were running WAY late on the show and someone must have told them to go home right then.  Weak ending to a pretty poor match and it was even worse that this was the main event of the show.  I can only assume (based on this debacle) that this feud isn’t over.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

This felt like any other show.  Aside from the “legends” match and the piss poor HOF stuff there was nothing special about this “25th anniversary edition.  How can you NOT have Hogan, Warrior, Hart, Savage, etc. on this show?  I know that there’s a TON of bad blood there but come on!

How could we have this show without the McMahons?  This just seemed pretty poorly thought out.  I’d definitely give the writing crew a bad grade here.

Anyone watch the HOF on USA Saturday night?  20 minutes of Steamboat, 5 minutes of “the others” and the rest of the show for Austin.  Stone Cold is OBVIOUSLY the biggest player there but you’ve just GOT to include some more people in your coverage.

And why… in the hell… was Koko inducted?  If you watch the montage they showed it goes like this:

Koko beating a jobber
Koko beating a jobber
Koko as part of a 3 man tag match
Koko beating a jobber
Oh, Koko lost that match
Koko beating a jobber
Koko beating a jobber

What the hell… I’d just like to announce right here that I’ll be inducted next year as the WWE’s number 1 fan.  Apparently all it takes is longevity.

Ugh…

* chewie runs away and waits for the DVD to come out which he KNOWS he’ll have to buy *

As you’re reading this review keep in mind that I’m a “smart” wrestling fan.  Please recognize that the term “smart” as it’s used here has nothing to do with intellect.  In fact that I’m a wrestling fan at all could call into play just how intelligent I am.  The term “smart” refers to somebody who understands how the wrestling business works and what goes on behind the scenes.  I hate to break it to you, but yes wrestling is “fake” insomuch as the outcomes are predetermined.  That said, the blood, chair shots, body slams, etc. are completely real.  But I digress…

The Wrestler follows professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson around the independent circuit.  Ram is well past his hey day at this point in his career and he’s simply trying to hang on for one last pay day (think Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair of present day).  As the story progresses we learn that Ram is basically a fuck up.  His world revolves around wrestling completely.  He’s let relationships come and go because of his profession, he’s done things to his body to jeopardize his long term health for his profession and he’s alone because of his profession.  Unfortunately this is a very accurate portrayal of the life of a professional wrestler.

THE WRESTLING: Actually, there is very little wrestling in this movie.  There’s a couple of matches early in the flick and then one at the end but the middle of the movie is sans wrestling action.  The wrestling scenes are done very well and really show what it’s like to be in the ring.  Not only do we see what the fans would see but we also get an inside look at what’s REALLY going on in the ring.  We get to see how the wrestlers are communicating with one another and how the matches are orchestrated.  There’s a “hardcore” match in there that is absolutely brutal.  If you’ve got a queezy stomach you’re going to want to turn you’re head a couple of times during this part of the movie.  The Wrestler relies less on its sport than say Rocky does on boxing.  The story is really about the man rather than the sport he loves.

THE PROS: The acting in this movie is absolutely incredible!  Mickey Rourke gives a performance that will bring a tear to your eye.  His stuff as a wrestler is great but I actually enjoyed is stuff outside the ring better.  He has an ongoing relationship with a stripper (Marisa Tomei) that becomes the the main story in the middle of the flick.  His broken relationship with his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) drives many of his actions and allows The Ram opportunities to succeed and fail as a father.  The writing is top notch and with Rourke delivering lines like “I’m an old broken down piece of meat and I deserve to be all alone, I just don’t want you to hate me,” you really get into the story and start to feel the pain that he’s going through.

The non wrestling stuff in here is what makes this movie for me.  Seeing Randy deal with “real life” is sometimes funny, sometimes sad but always interesting.  There’s a scene in the ACME that show “a day in the life of The Ram” and it’s incredible.  This is a character study film and it’s flawless in that vein.

I mention Tomei’s portrayal as stripper Cassidy.  All I’ve got to say is “WOW”.  No body double here and while we don’t get any full frontal this is definitely MUCH better than the “I’m a stripper but I’m not going to show you anything” that Natalie Portman pulled a couple of years back.  In fact, I’m actually kind of surprised that Tomei did as much as she did… definitely a plus for the guys!!!

THE CONS: I’m a big wrestling fan and have been for the better part of 3 decades.  This film was essentially written for me.  It’s gritty and it’s about a wrestler.  That said I’m not sure that a non wrestling fan would “get” just how good this movie is.  In fact, if the only wrestling that you’ve ever been exposed to is WWE on Monday night then I sill don’t think you’ll get it.  A couple of times I had to lean over to my wife and explain just what they were talking about.  They use quite a few inside terms to the wrestling industry (IE, “cheap heat”) that I think are probably lost on a the non wrestling fan.

This movie is shot almost exclusively with hand held cameras and it makes for a very “jerky” film experience (think Blair Witch Project, the first scene of Saving Private Ryan or the last scene of Transformers).  We were sitting about direct center of the theater and my wife not only had to look away quite a bit but eventually got an upset stomach and had to go up into the back of the theater.  It didn’t bother me all that much but I could see how it might bother some people.

The story left a little to be desired in the end.  I’m a big “movie ending guy” so the end of this movie was kind of a let down to me.  Not that it was bad perse, but it just wasn’t as tied together as I’d have hoped for.  It’s one of those that hints at things but never really comes out and says “here’s what happens”.  That said I’m VERY glad that they didn’t go for the obvious ending for the movie.  I guess I was just hoping for more length to this flick… when I see something I like I want to get as much as possible.

CONCLUSIONS: This is a very good movie.  For me as a wrestling fan it’s a great movie.  It’s too genre specific to be considered a great movie by the masses but there’s no doubt that the performances that Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei give are incredible.  Those performances, great action sequences and a pretty good story make The Wrestler definitely worth seeing.