Million Dollar Baby
Director: Clint Eastwood
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 2.0
Ambitious female boxer (Hilary Swank) seeks guidance from gym owner Clint Eastwood; he's reluctant to help her out at first, but comes to sympathize with the girl and helps her hone her skills. Works well for quite a while, combining some comic relief (the lanky kid who calls himself "Danger" as well as Clint's interaction with the local priest) and excellent fighting scenes before physically pummeling its own comic relief and turning awkwardly towards overwrought - and sometimes graphic - tragedy (the scene that kicks off the bad news for Swank is ridiculous and I can't help but believe could have been done differently). The hospital scenes weigh down the end of the movie to such a degree that they overwhelm the solid film that preceded them - at least in my mind - though to say the main performances (Swank, Eastwood, Morgan Freeman) ever sag is pure lunacy - in fact, it could very well be one of Eastwood's most notable roles as an actor.
