Review: Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Watched Clint Eastwood’s awesome movie ‘Million Dollar Baby’ last week and was spellbound and deeply contemplative as the movie ended. A beautifully directed movie, a trite clichéd, but well done nevertheless, along the lines of the greatness of ‘Shawshank Redemption’, but without as many characters. Beautifully acted, dialogues that are really deep and a well directed movie overall. Hillary Swank and the ever dependable Morgan Freeman give a performance that’s beyond excellent.

Hillary Swank plays a pugilist, Maggie Fitzgerald, with a mobile-home redneck upbringing from the Ozarks, Missouri. She dreams of being a boxer, the best one that she can ever be. To help her make it, she goes after Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), despite his rebuffs and apparent apathy.

Maggie perseveres, with a little help from Morgan Freeman, who is a washed up pugilist himself, who now is managing the gym for Dunn. After some setbacks for Dunn, and persuasion by Morgan Freeman, Dunn agrees to train Maggie, but it has to be on his terms.

The rest of the movie deals with Maggie’s rise in the boxing world and her shot at the world welterweight championship fight in Las Vegas and the misfortunes that befall her after the title fight. Since delving any more into the story will only ruin the viewing pleasure of the movie, whatever follows the title fight is pure dramatic excellence.

Everything about this movie is exceptional, the story, the casting, the direction and the acting. Of course if you are squeamish about blood, slit eyes and broken noses, then ‘close your eyes’ to a few scenes in this wonderful movie. Otherwise stay awake, stay wide awake for the viewing of the ‘Million Dollar Baby’.