The Wrestler [DVD] [2008] - Optimum Home Entertainment

Call me Randy!

The Wrestler is a tremendous film. Mickey Rourke's performance is outstanding and he is superbly supported by Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Ward. Darren Aronofsky's near-documentary style suits this tale perfectly. There's nothing glamorous about the lives of these people - they're regular folk with regular problems and it's this stark depiction of life that wins this film all the high praise it has received.

Simple story-telling with magnificent performances. There's not really much else to say other than don't miss this!

The DVD has some nice extra material on the making of the film but it's the feature that wins this round.

This is what a real film is all about

So compelling is the story, you suddenly hear Bruce Springsteen's beautiful song "The Wrestler" as end credits roll, having completely lost track of time. THAT is the mark of a good movie.
The Wrestler could be described as a film-makers movie. It's technically brilliant, and comes courtesy of a writer and a Producer/Director both relatively new to the industry. Robert Siegel's superb script is not about a real person as such. You would expect such a raw and compelling story to have been based upon the life of a real wrestler, a testament to the strength of the film.
The lighting and camera work is more 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary than the kitsch nonsense we often suffer through when a script is not as strong as this.
Superb cast (incl. cameo by the writer himself) it is necessary to watch more than once to take in the emotion of it all.

Differences

The u.k edition of the wrestler is region B only.

It contains the extras:
*Documentary: "Within the Ring" (SD, 43 minutes)
*Interview with Mickey Rourke (SD, 12 minutes)

The U.S.A edition has:
*Documentary: "Within the Ring" (SD, 43 minutes)
*Wrestler Round Table (SD, 18 minutes)
*Music Video: "The Wrestler" (SD, 4 minutes)
*Digital Copy

Just looking at the extras...the U.S edition wins. the interview with Mickey Rourke isn't really anything special compared to the extras the u.k edition misses out on. The U.S Edition is also more expensive but...the u.k edition does contain unskippable trailers on start up. The Australian release is the same as the U.K edition, though the cover art differ alot and i am not sure if the aus edition has the unskippable trailers.

The Video quality of the blu ray is highly detailed but heavily grainy as well (This is due to the fact the film was filmed through hand held cameras that didn't record in HD quality.

sporting effort by rourke.

in truth i felt a little dissapointed after watching the wrestler i was expecting much more ring action i suppose , mickey rourke does a fine job portraying the beaten down wrestler but its a dark sad story and did not live up to the glorious reviews by the critics .i did it no favours by watching million dollar baby the night before and that film is superb ,the wrestler ain't in the same league in comparison.

well acted

i think rourke and tomei are excellent in the lead roles and the film is touching,depressing and at times offers a glimmer of hope for the principle character,the film portrays the wrestling industry and more importantly the difficulties we find in our lives, however i have scored this only 3 stars because i feel it was too short and never really goes deep enough in allowing us to understand the man and his destructive path.