Mickey Rourke is living proof that too much time spent in the boxing ring fighting is no good for your looks. Leaving aside the dangers of concussion on the brain, all those punches to the face tend to rearrange your features in a way you'd rather they didn't. Still, were it not for his beat up face, Rourke probably wouldn't have delivered the best performance of his career in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler - it's a role which was tailor made for the ex-boxer and served to revitalise his career after years in the acting wilderness. If you want to see a fascinating contrast between how Mickey Rourke looks these days compared to his earlier years before taking up boxing again, a side-by-side comparison with his face in The Wrestler alongside 9 1/2 Weeks reveals just how much damage has been done in the intervening years. Ouch.
