Former WWE writer Dr. Ranjan Chiibberr wrote an excellent review of THE WRESTLER for Slam!Sports, which you can read in it's entirety HERE

 

Key excerpt:

 

No film's component parts can shine unless a master auteur is at the helm, and Aronofsky reveals himself to be worthy of that title. He has not abandoned the visionary power witnessed in Pi and The Fountain: he is as uncompromising as ever, and that takes The Wrestler beyond the category of a merely great film to that of an "Instant Classic," to quote TNA wrestler Christian Cage's catchphrase. It takes a while for the rest of the world to catch up with the wisdom of a genius, and it his critics that have had to eat crow and finally appreciate his filmmaking style. Aronofsky deserves an Oscar for his direction.

 

He inoculates the film with a passion and energy that makes it awe-inspiring without allowing it to be held hostage by CGI. Everything about this film is real. His camera does the talking and shows us the world through The Ram's eyes. One of these brilliant visual touches occurs when The Ram retires from the world of wrestling to take a job as a butcher in a grocery store. On his first day, Aronofsky's camera tracks him from the grocery dressing room through the long corridors of the warehouse, until he finally steps through the curtains to appear in front of the public; the exact same shot is shown earlier in the film when The Ram is walking to the ring. The Ram is doomed to see the world only through wrestling terms.

 

Other than his visual style, Aronofsky's most important tool at his disposal in this film is his choice of music. It opens with the rousing '80s Quiet Riot metal anthem, Metal Health, which becomes the theme music of The Ram. Other '80s heavy metal classics, like Balls to the Walls, are also played in the film, mostly used as theme music for the wrestlers, reminiscent of Paul Heyman's use of loud, alternative music for his wrestlers in the original incarnation of ECW. After all that loud music, Aronofsky ends the film with the quiet, elegaic song The Wrestler, written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, specifically for the film.

 

 

 

 

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