by Michael Bialas

Created on: August 22, 2009   Last Updated: August 23, 2009

The Wrestler was reviewed at the 2008 Starz Denver Film Festival weeks before its theatrical release. This film was classified as a special presentation and shown November 14, 2008, at the King Center on the Auraria campus.

The Wrestler is filled with hard bodies, tortured souls and fragile psyches. And that's just the two lead characters. It's a rough, tough, rock 'em, shock 'em film that looks at professional (if you can call it that) wrestling through the eyes of a self-described old, broken-down piece of meat who seeks a return to gory glory after a 20-year absence. He has a lot to grapple with along the way, trying to win back his fans, his loved ones and that past-her-prime stripper with a heart of fool's gold, all to a head-banging Eighties heavy-metal soundtrack.

Leading roles
Mickey Rourke (Randy "The Ram" Robinson); Marisa Tomei (Cassidy/Pam); Evan Rachel Wood (Stephanie Robinson).

Also appearing
Mark Margolis (Lenny); Ernest Miller (The Ayatollah); Judah Friedlander (Scott Brumberg).

Director
Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain). With Aronofsky calling the shots, always expect the unexpected. A risk taker himself (Requiem for a Dream is a harrowing and unforgettable tale of addiction), he delivers something completely different here, an authentic story with True Grit that has nothing to do with Rooster Cogburn.

Warming up
This isn't the WrestleMania flash-trash sport embodied by the likes of Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This is a low-budget world filled with small gyms, smaller crowds and even skimpier paydays, where blood and guts are in demand. The Ram (Rourke), who sometimes has to sleep in his Ram Van because he can't afford to pay the rent on his New Jersey trailer, decides to come out of retirement. He's talked into an epic return encounter with his mortal enemy, The Ayatollah. (Two words: Re Match, the promoter says.) To get there first, he has a series of scrapes with opponents who use weapons such as staple guns and forks. His training regimen includes popping pills and injecting steroids.

During his down time, he seeks comfort in the arms of Cassidy (Tomei), that exotic dancer at Cheeques, where the sign promotes ass with class. Of course, he has to pay for her company and the lap dances while she quotes lines from The Passion of the Christ and calls him my sacrificial Ram. He tries to impress her by showing off his scars, detailing where, when and how he was injured. That doesn't exactly

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