With Swank and Freeman, Eastwood makes a knock out
Left punch to the head, right punch to the ribs. Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) advances, forcing her opponent into the ropes. Right hook to the jaw, left punch to the nose – her opponent is down; Fitzgerald wins the match.
Clint Eastwood has managed to create another intense with complex acting in his newest boxing flick, "Million Dollar Baby." Eastwood, who directed and co-starred in "Million Dollar Baby," establishes strong leading actors who carry the somber, emotional plot, like his previous critically acclaimed and Oscar awarded movie, "Mystic River." Both movies addresses the character's drives. Because no matter how dismal the characters or their futures may be, they will work with everything they have to act full out.
Again, like in "Mystic River," Eastwood manages to fall into similar same directorial pitfalls: shoddy lighting and awkward film development. Although criticism of dimly lit basements and eclipsed faces may sound fussy or nit-picky, being unable to watch a solemn Morgan Freeman deliver a well-spoken monologue is probably the most frustrating thing to see in a movie ever. "Million Dollar Baby" is more than two hours long, which is a long time to talk about Fitzgerald, a woman who wants to become Lightweight Women's Champion of the World, and her entourage of supporters, her coach Frankie (Eastwood) and Frankie's janitor Eddie, a former boxer champion (Morgan Freeman). What therefore results is an overdrawn plot whose premise of a female boxer overcoming all odds can be compared to a made-for-TV Disney movie.
But story is not what makes "Million Dollar Baby" worth seeing. Eastwood takes a somewhat mediocre storyline and transforms it into a moving, engrossing piece by creating intricate, three-dimensional characters. By the second round of the movie, watching Fitzgerald struggle match after match alongside her stoic trainer is gripping. The lead cast's chemistry is unmistakably genuine; the audience seems convinced that Eastwood and Freeman actually did train together for 30 or 40 years.
Fitzgerald is a 32-year-old waitress from Mississippi who traveled all the way from her Bible Belt community to the concrete desert of Los Angeles to satisfy her only dream: to become the greatest female boxer in the world.
Watching Swank perform is another reason to see the movie all its own. According to Swank, a reporter asked her one time, "When will you play a pretty girl?" (referring to Swank's Oscar winning performance of a transgender hate crime victim in "Boys Don't Cry"). Obviously the reporter has not caught a single glimpse of "Million Dollar Baby." Swank's Fitzgerald is hardly ugly, transforming her hillbilly past and skinny build into a character that radiates power and resilience. Swank portrays more substantial of a character than of a scantily clad, caked-up or lady-like action heroine. Instead, Swank creates Fitzgerald as an honest, gruff and independent woman, which ultimately makes one admirable, beautiful woman.
Eastwood has created another incredible film with incredible characters, all marked with Eastwood's famous talent. The acting, the characters and especially the drama overshadow the awkward lighting and slow plot, making "Million Dollar Baby" one heck of a knockout hit.
"Million Dollar Baby" is rated PG-13 for violence, brief profanity and disturbing images and themes.
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