Boxing movie and then some

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2009)

I figured this was just heated-up "Rocky" but what do you know, it's not. The story seems basic to the naked eye, but it actually turns out to be pretty brilliant once you get halfway or so. This does in fact start out as a true underdog story, and the nobody who becomes somebody out of sheer will power has been done to death. But then you have some more stuff that happens and the whole thing is put in a different perspective. Hillary Swank is pretty good, but this is Eastwood's movie, and not only because he directed. His performance is really intriguing, he's really just close to the stock character of the hard-ass trainer, but he's doing so much with it. And I'm not really much of a fan of presumed emotional highlights but this one really works. Whatever praise it got it deserved it.