For the mainstream audiences that equate Bale with the stoic anti-hero of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” movies, Bale’s smoking-fuse performance in “The Fighter” could open eyes. This is the first film with popular aspirations in which Bale completely submerges into an edgy character. He lost weight to create a gaunt and wasting appearance, and I’m not sure how any normal human being could voluntarily make his eyes bulge like that. One wonders if he took a pair of pliers and plucked out his own real teeth just to heighten the authenticity.

There is never a doubt about how the fights will turn out in “The Fighter,” except the ones that play out within the family of Mickey Ward. Dickey Eklund (Christian Bale) at one time was called "Pride of Lowell, Massachusetts” because he managed to knock down Sugar-Ray Leonard (though some would say Sugar-Ray tripped).