Hello movie fans! Ready for another down to earth review? Well, here we go. This time we're reviewing Million Dollar Baby. Is it as good as all the hype has made it seem to be? Let's find out. Million Dollar Baby stars Clint Eastwood as Frankie Dunn, Morgan Freeman as Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris (aka Scrap) and Hilary Swank as Maggie Fitzgerald.
I was very pleased when I put this in, that there weren't a ton of previews or other crap to watch through first. The menu of the movie popped right up. Good way to start things off. The movie starts off with a fight scene and some background narration by Morgan Freeman. The narration continues throughout the movie. Now normally, something like that would bother me, but not in this case. The narration provides that little extra bit of information and background just when it's needed in the movie and never overpowers the movie or the current scene.
In walks Maggie Fitzgerald who introduces herself to Frankie Dunn. Maggie explains she has fought on a previous card that night and is looking for a trainer. Frankie in no short terms explains to her in no way is he looking to train a girl. That doesn't deter Maggie at all, as she quickly signs up at the "HitPit" which is Frankie's gym. He does what he can to discourage her from pursuing a career in boxing, but she doesn't budge one bit. Eddie ends up feeling sorry for her and gives her a little coaching on what to do. With his little amount of help and her stubbornness, Maggie eventually convinces Frankie to train her. Maggie's training progresses at a realistic pace in the movie.
You find out later in the movie that Frankie was Eddie's cut man during his last fight. Eddie ended up getting a nasty cut over his eye, which Frankie managed to patch up continuously. Eddie reveals Frankie wanted to stop the fight, but because he wasn't his manager, did not have the capabilities of doing so. The fight eventually ends with Eddie losing by decision. The next morning due to blood entering his eye, Eddie loses sight in one of them. I'm not sure if blood entered his eye internally causing the blindness or externally. I'm assuming internally. Just something I picked up on and wasn't exactly sure about. Frankie blames himself for somehow not being able to stop the fight and Eddie's partial blindness. Because of this, Frankie has a tendency to over protect his fighters and keep them from title fights. In the beginning of the movie, Frankie loses one of his best fighters (Big Willie) to another manager. Things start to look that way for Maggie too, until he has a change of heart.
I don't want to give too much away about the movie, as part of the enjoyment is experiencing it first hand. I was really pleased with all the actors' performances in this movie. All of them had very moving performances and scenes. None of them were over the top at all. Hilary Swank played the role of a trailer trash respectful girl, who is seeking out her dream of becoming a boxer. Seeing emotion in Clint Eastwood towards the end of the movie and occasionally throughout it was refreshing.
There were a couple things that were disappointing to me. First, when Maggie is fighting and has a tendency to knock out her opponents in the first round, the knockouts didn't look anywhere near realistic. In all the times I've watching any type of boxing sport, you rarely saw a boxer take this tremendous punch to the face that spun them around and eventually down to the mat. A couple of bad camera angles at times also gave away some of the stunts in regards to the fighting.
The overall storyline was great. Something new and aside from the run of the mill movies you see coming out lately. The only part of the storyline that I had an issue with was the ending. I'm really big on endings that give you a sense of closure or finality unless they're leading up to a part two. This particular ending took a movie that was utterly believable and kind of shot itself in the foot at the end. I could have thought of several different ways to end the movie on a much higher emotional level as well as increase the believability of what was happening.
Million Dollar Baby is a very good movie. Again, it had excellent acting and a very good storyline. A few parts could have been improved, but that is with almost all movies. Since this is no longer in the theaters, you'll have to rent this one. This is a movie that boxing fanatics or people into dramas will enjoy both the same. It's not something that you would sit down young children to watch due to some violent scenes. Overall, definitely a good and recommended rental.
"Million Dollar Baby" opens November 15, 2004 and is rated PG13. Drama. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by F.X. Toole, Paul Haggis. Starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Jay Baruchel, Morgan Freeman.
