Rourke pins down role in 'Wrestler'

Darren Aronofsky's tragic, no-holds-barred character study "The Wrestler" falls squarely on Mickey Rourke's bulked-up shoulders to make it all work.

It does more than work. Rourke's steroidal physique (he could have starred as "The Incredible Hulk" without digital enhancement), his raspy, damaged voice and his battle-scared face forge an unforgettable character that ranks up there with Robert De Niro's "Raging Bull" as one of those rare actor/role combinations that touch greatness.

This one also touches our hearts.

Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler who has clocked more than 20 years in the ring of a make-believe sport, one where the combatants, like true artists, bleed for their craft. Now old enough to be on the verge of retirement, the dyed blond wrestler decides to mount a comeback.

Rourke should be able to relate. He stages his own "comeback" here after falling off the Hollywood radar for more than a decade. Following a series of electrifying performances during the 1980s ("Body Heat," "Diner," "The Pope of Greenwich Village" and "Angel Heart"), Rourke appeared to vanish from Hollywood's front burner, save for occasional films such as "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" and "Sin City."

He's back on the A-list in "The Wrestler" with a perfect merger of actor and role, the kind where you can't imagine anyone else starring in the movie but Rourke.

He brings an unsentimental sense of loneliness and isolation to Randy the Ram, who takes pain medication just to get through the day. He lives in a trailer, except now he's been locked out of it.

He has a love interest, of sorts, with a local stripper named Cassidy. She's played by Marisa Tomei in another very brave and bold role of an older woman who, like Randy, is reaching the end of the line in a profession that thrives on youthful bodies. Randy really likes her. She likes him, but always reminds herself, and him, that he's a client and off-limits out of the strip club.

Randy realizes the end is coming, and in his loneliness, reaches out to make peace with his estranged grown daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), who says she hates him for abandoning her as a child. Randy's sincerity and persistence pay off when she finally agrees to go out with him and talk.

But people like Randy don't change, and we watch with sadness as he appears unable to alter his self-destructive habits.

Aronofsky makes "The Wrestler" feel like a documentary without actually using documentary devices. Maryse Alberti's widescreen camera constantly follows Randy around as if we're next to him, observing every action over his shoulder.

The wrestling sequences are fresh and, in their own cheesy, shocking way, utterly brutal. And, like Rourke's transparent portrait of a tragic superhero, nothing quite like we've seen before.