"Million Dollar Baby" (2004)
Starring Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood's latest film "Million Dollar Baby" has brought heart and soul back into the boxing film for the first time since the original "Rocky".
The story is told by Eddie (Morgan Freeman, "The Sum of All Fears"), a former boxer who lost an eye in his last fight and now works for trainer Frankie (Clint Eastwood), who blames himself for Eddie losing his eye. We are soon introduced to Maggie (Hilary Swank, "Boys Don't Cry"), a wannabe boxer who wants Frankie to train her. Frankie refuses at first, but when the boxer he was training leaves him for another manager, and after some talking up by Eddie, Frankie decides to take on Maggie until she finds another manager. What develops is a special bond between these two characters that goes through hardships and triumphs.
The performances by all the characters were believable. Swank in particular is a standout and deservedly won her second Oscar for Best Actress. Throughout the film you believe that her life before becoming a boxer was hard and that this was all she wanted to do to escape her "trailer trash" beginnings. What makes her performance so memorable is that you can sense her determination to be a boxer and her thrill at her triumphs as well as her disappointments. As the film progresses, she starts to care about Frankie as if he were her surrogate father.
Eastwood was also very good as Frankie. Struggling with the rejection from his own daughter as well as his guilt for Eddie, you can see how he slowly adopts Maggie as if she were his own, even going so far as to protect her emotionally and physically. Morgan Freeman, although he is telling the story, is really only a minor character in the scheme of the story. But his presence is felt throughout the film in various areas. His Oscar for Best Supporting Actor was definitely warranted as he pulls his part off wonderfully.
Freeman's character works as a janitor at the gym as well as helps train other boxers, and lives there. But he doesn't feel sorry for himself. Instead he takes pride in what he can do and his own triumphs instead of dwelling on what he can't do any longer. And that comes through in Freeman's performance. Eastwood, who won the Oscar for Best Directing for this film, is a wonderful storyteller and it shows in past films such as "Unforgiven" and "Mystic River." You can tell through his simple, non-showy direction that the only thing Eastwood is interested in is the story and characters.
The pacing of the film is slow, but it has to be in order to develop the characters. Even Freeman's narration suggests a leisurely pace in the telling of the story. He knows how to use both action and quiet moments that other directors seem to have a hard time balancing.
A lot of the lighting in the film is in shadow, in particular in the gym scenes. It's a dramatic effect and allows the audience to understand what their lives were like before the action of the film. The film's brighter scenes, such as the fight sequences, are painted in broad color strokes in spots, with some murkiness still lurking underneath.
Only a few things about the movie felt a little false, in particular Maggie's family. They just seemed a little too "stereotypical" hillbilly. With someone like Maggie, it seems that with her sensibility she wouldn't come from a family like this but instead would have adopted their lifestyle long ago.
It's hard to say anything more about this film without spoiling it, although certain reviewers have done just that to "expose" an agenda. It started with Michael Medved when he went on The 700 Club and since then other reviewers have gone on to talk about the implications behind this film. No film should be spoiled for the viewer unless they want a spoiler. It shouldn't be forced on the public like Medved tried to do. In this case, after seeing the film, he was exposing an agenda that wasn't there.
Overall, "Million Dollar Baby" is a must see film, and highly recommended. The film deserves every one of the Oscars it won.
Buy "Million Dollar Baby" on DVD
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood's latest film "Million Dollar Baby" has brought heart and soul back into the boxing film for the first time since the original "Rocky".
The story is told by Eddie (Morgan Freeman, "The Sum of All Fears"), a former boxer who lost an eye in his last fight and now works for trainer Frankie (Clint Eastwood), who blames himself for Eddie losing his eye. We are soon introduced to Maggie (Hilary Swank, "Boys Don't Cry"), a wannabe boxer who wants Frankie to train her. Frankie refuses at first, but when the boxer he was training leaves him for another manager, and after some talking up by Eddie, Frankie decides to take on Maggie until she finds another manager. What develops is a special bond between these two characters that goes through hardships and triumphs.
The performances by all the characters were believable. Swank in particular is a standout and deservedly won her second Oscar for Best Actress. Throughout the film you believe that her life before becoming a boxer was hard and that this was all she wanted to do to escape her "trailer trash" beginnings. What makes her performance so memorable is that you can sense her determination to be a boxer and her thrill at her triumphs as well as her disappointments. As the film progresses, she starts to care about Frankie as if he were her surrogate father.
Eastwood was also very good as Frankie. Struggling with the rejection from his own daughter as well as his guilt for Eddie, you can see how he slowly adopts Maggie as if she were his own, even going so far as to protect her emotionally and physically. Morgan Freeman, although he is telling the story, is really only a minor character in the scheme of the story. But his presence is felt throughout the film in various areas. His Oscar for Best Supporting Actor was definitely warranted as he pulls his part off wonderfully.
Freeman's character works as a janitor at the gym as well as helps train other boxers, and lives there. But he doesn't feel sorry for himself. Instead he takes pride in what he can do and his own triumphs instead of dwelling on what he can't do any longer. And that comes through in Freeman's performance. Eastwood, who won the Oscar for Best Directing for this film, is a wonderful storyteller and it shows in past films such as "Unforgiven" and "Mystic River." You can tell through his simple, non-showy direction that the only thing Eastwood is interested in is the story and characters.
The pacing of the film is slow, but it has to be in order to develop the characters. Even Freeman's narration suggests a leisurely pace in the telling of the story. He knows how to use both action and quiet moments that other directors seem to have a hard time balancing.
A lot of the lighting in the film is in shadow, in particular in the gym scenes. It's a dramatic effect and allows the audience to understand what their lives were like before the action of the film. The film's brighter scenes, such as the fight sequences, are painted in broad color strokes in spots, with some murkiness still lurking underneath.
Only a few things about the movie felt a little false, in particular Maggie's family. They just seemed a little too "stereotypical" hillbilly. With someone like Maggie, it seems that with her sensibility she wouldn't come from a family like this but instead would have adopted their lifestyle long ago.
It's hard to say anything more about this film without spoiling it, although certain reviewers have done just that to "expose" an agenda. It started with Michael Medved when he went on The 700 Club and since then other reviewers have gone on to talk about the implications behind this film. No film should be spoiled for the viewer unless they want a spoiler. It shouldn't be forced on the public like Medved tried to do. In this case, after seeing the film, he was exposing an agenda that wasn't there.
Overall, "Million Dollar Baby" is a must see film, and highly recommended. The film deserves every one of the Oscars it won.
Buy "Million Dollar Baby" on DVD
posted by ScoopOnFilm @ 11:56 AM
1 Comments:
At 10:34 PM,
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