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Million Dollar Baby
Directed by Clint Eastwood. Story: A female boxer badgers Clint Eastwood until he trains her. Running Time: 1hr 57 minutes. Certificate 12A.
Million Dollar Baby is a boxing film. "Oh please no," I hear you cry, echoing the film-watching universe when Rocky somehow won the 1976 Best Picture Oscar. But stick with it, for although Million Dollar Baby is about boxing and is (spookily) Oscar-nominated in all the same categories as Rocky was, it shows how the genre has moved on since the monosyllabic days of Stallone.
Million Dollar Baby is 74-year old Clint Eastwood's 25th film in the director's seat and has a very good chance of picking up a second director's Oscar, after his previous winner Unforgiven. Clint plays a boxing trainer who "doesn't train girls", so Hilary Swank has her work cut out persuading Clint to train her as a professional fighter. Narrating the tale and acting as a wise ol' teddy bear is Morgan Freeman, who has carved a neat niche for himself playing poor, gentle and infinitely sage supporting actors. His middle name must be Yoda.
Million Dollar Baby is, in my mind, not the best film of the year - but criminally, Collateral and Shrek 2 haven't even been nominated, and the latter is even going to lose out in the animation category to The Incredibles (note to self - another comment to delete if I'm wrong). However, it's still a corker of a movie - dignified, poignant and even funny in places. Although it is a little sentimental, clichéd and simplistic (all the characters are clearly "good" or "bad"), I would it recommend to anyone who has a tendency towards critically-acclaimed films (in other words, if you liked Elektra, then stay away). Hopefully it'll win at least the Best Actress Oscar and lay the ghost of Rocky Balboa to rest once and for all. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: Women smacking the hell out of each other. To enjoy this film you should: like Oscar nominees.
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Cast: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman.
Million Dollar Baby is not without its surprises, and for that reason you should probably read as few reviews as
you can before seeing it. If you generally like award-winning movies then Million Dollar Baby will do you fine,
so stop reading and go and see it. The more you read about it beforehand, the less impact the movie will have.
Have you gone? Good, then I can say bollocks and no-one will know.
Million Dollar Baby has three pretty distinct chapters - but I'm not going to tell you what they are. The early scenes
in the gym play a little like Barbershop, with banter amongst the regulars and gradual development of the characters.
The three main players are all damn fine upstanding people, which is good for the viewer rooting for them, but bad
for the down-to-earthness of things. To counteract this, Hilary is shown taking home leftovers from the café she waits
at, while Morgan's narrator observes, "she grew up knowing one thing - she was trash". Truth be known, the actual story
is pretty feeble when you look at it, but that only serves as a compliment to the acting and direction as I never really
noticed that until afterwards. The arrival of Hilary's family only highlights the quality of the acting,
as the family all come across as caricatures
in this esteemed company - though I suppose it could explain the presidents that the USA seems to get saddled with...
Either way, if Hilary doesn't win the Best Actress Oscar then ... well ... I'll remove this comment from
the review so no-one will know I got it wrong.
I'd never have thought it, but with the soothing, rumbling voice of
Morgan Freeman poetically explaining the ins and outs
of boxing pyschology, I became quite interested in the sport of punching the crap out of someone. We see all sides of
the sport and how it affects those involved. We see the characters evolve as the fighting progresses, though we never see
the entire psyche. For example, Clint unswervingly attends church every day, but also amicably taunts the priest about
the unlikelihood of his religion, yet we never reconcile these two seemingly opposite behaviours. That's no bad thing,
it adds intrigue to Clint's character. The only mild point I would criticise is one particular facial expression of Clint's
that I've never found convincing in any of his films - it's that look when something surprising has been said or done,
and Clint is left on his own to think about what's just happened. The eyes narrow, the brow furrows and he looks
into space slightly to his right ... it happens every time and it never quite looks right. That's a pretty feeble
complaint though, when we're talking about a top class movie.
