Out of all the sequels that are being made these days there are some that should probably be left alone. It’s a touchy subject to think about since stating which movies should be made and which shouldn’t isn’t an accurate science given that there are so many factors that need to be factored in when thinking about which movies will be most effective and which will be rolling dumpster fires. When it comes to The Fighter, however, this is a story that might be better off being left to one movie and not being given the chance to entertain one or more sequels. The downside here is that the life of boxer Micky Ward could stand out as an interesting movie since his in-ring battles with Arturo Gatti were great enough that a lot of people might want to see this. Stating that it could be seen as another ‘Rocky‘ type movie is accurate but not entirely fair since the two stories are quite different even if Micky had to go through his own struggles to find his own sense of worth.
The easy way to say it is that another boxing movie of this caliber isn’t about to find that much acceptance with the fans for a couple of reasons. One is that the initial movie said a great deal about Ward’s life that a lot of people enjoyed even if it was altered a bit to make it more cinematic. Another reason is that creating a boxing movie with a sequel is a risk since there’s a good chance that the sequel is going to go the way of all sequels, meaning it won’t be able to stand up to the original and do something memorable. Sequels often start as far weaker than the original movie since the expectations laid upon them to do something great is simply too much.
The Fighter was a solid movie that displayed the life of a boxer that a lot of people didn’t think much of initially since while he had talent and a lot of promise, Micky Ward was still hampered by his family and his own reputation, which had been created in part by his family. But seeing as how the movie built up to such a crescendo with the fight between Micky and Shae Neary that thinking that another three fights between Ward and Gatti would need to be insanely impressive to top the first movie. It doesn’t feel that this is bound to happen since a lot of the emotional content was already firmly placed in the first movie and it was even added in that Ward and Gatti would go on to fight later on. Some might think that this doesn’t matter, and there’s a good bet that it could be just a taste of what’s to come, but this sequel feels like something that could end up coming off as kind of a joke since it might feel empty in comparison to the first movie. Plenty of folks might want to argue with this, but the fact is that everything that was done in the first movie would feel a little cheapened by this attempt and the continuing story might drag on and on in a way that would make it clear that the writers had an opportunity but were still being hampered by the original.
Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale did a great job when it came to presenting this movie in a manner that was able to capture the attention of the audience, as the story of Micky Ward and Dick Ecklund was one that a lot of people probably already knew, but others were able to find out more about once they’d watched the movie. While some facts were accurate, others were taken out of context and given the typical Hollywood treatment, meaning that they were exaggerated beyond belief. A sequel would likely get the same treatment, but again, it’s a big if as to whether people would want to watch it since so much of the heart and soul of Ward’s rise to the top was placed in the first movie. Trying to make a sequel out of this would be a tough proposition since, unlike the Rocky movies, Ward was shown winning in his first movie. It’s tough to think that this could go off without a hitch and that things would be able to pick up from the end of the first movie.
At the end of the day, sequels are still a big thing as of now and they’re bound to remain that way for a while since there are plenty of stories that people want to pick up and continue no matter if they’re worth the effort or not. The Fighter is one of those that needs to be thoroughly examined in light of the first movie before it’s given a sequel, but it already feels as though it might be given the green light at some point based on a half-assed plot at best.
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