MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Released: December 17, 2004
After 2003's critcal hit "Mystic River", no one would have thought less of director Clint Eastwood if he simply took a few years off. But not Eastwood - he jumped right back in the director's chair and decided to make a boxing movie. But "Million Dollar Baby" does not follow the usual boxing movie template. The trailers and TV spots show Eastwood playing a hardened fighter-turned-trainer who works with a determined woman (Hilary Swank) in her attempt to establish herself as a boxer. Eastwood's jaded character doesn't want to train a "girly" but after his longtime buddy (Morgan Freeman) sees her potential, so too does Eastwood. He reluctantly trains her and she starts fighting matches. The story then takes us where we weren't expecting. To reveal more would be inappropriate. Swank is jaw-droppingly astounding here, as are Eastwood and Freeman. The supporting cast is very good, but not to detract from their accomplishments, this is a story about the Eastwood, Swank and Freeman characters. Long before Swank won accolades in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry", she starred in the third installment in the "Karate Kid" series called "The Next Karate Kid" (1994). She uses the energy of the character she played in that movie and takes it a million steps further, demonstrating her acting skills like I can't imagine many others replicating. Eastwood wrote the music for "Million Dollar Baby" as well as acting, producing and directing. How many directors unveil the best film of their career at age 74? This is the kind of movie that comes along rarely but, in doing so, reaffirms my love of the movies in a business where formula trumps quality more and more these days. This was a joy to watch, though I doubt that, along with myself, anyone walks away from this movie without shedding a tear or three.
138 Minutes
Warner Bros.